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OXFORD OF TODAY 

A Manual for Prospective Rhodes Scholars 

EDITED FOR 

THE ALUMNI ASSOCIATION OF 
AMERICAN RHODES SCHOLARS 

BY 

LAURENCE A. CROSBY 

AND 

FRANK AYDELOTTE 



NEW YORK 

OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS 
AMERICAN BRANCH: 35 WEST 32ND STREET 

LONDON, TORONTO, MELBOURNE AND BOMBAY 
1922 






Copyright, 1922, 

By Oxford University Press 

American Branch 



DEC 20/22 

)C1A602464 









^ 
i- 

f 



To 
THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD 

and to the memory of 

her heroic Lover 

CECIL JOHN RHODES 

this hook is reverently dedicated 

by Americans whom his generosity 

has enrolled among her Children 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PACK 

Preface ix 

I. The History of the University. By C. F. 

Tucker Brooke i 

1 1 . The Organization of the University and 

Colleges. By L. A. Crosby 29 

III. Admission and Standing. By F. J. Wylie 40 

IV. The Oxford System of Education. By 

L. A. Crosby 48 

\\ Courses of Study: The B.A. Degree and 

THE Honour Schools. By L. A. Crosby 53 

VI. Courses of Study: Advanced or Post- 
graduate Degrees. By L. A. Crosby 102 

VII. The Colleges of Oxford: Their History 

and Characteristics. By Joseph Wells 117 

VIII. Social Life and Activities at the Uni- 
versity. By R. P. Coffin 151 

IX. Cecil John Rhodes. By George Van Sant- 

voord 188 

X. History of the Operation of the Rhodes 
Scholarships in the United States. 
By Frank Aydelotte 211 

appendix 

A. Libraries, Museums, and Other Univer- 

sity Institutions. By C. C. Brinton . . 227 

B. Expenses at Oxford. By F. J. Wylie . . 234 

C. University and College Discipline . . 239 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

D. University Courts 242 

E. The American University Union .... 244 

F. List of Colleges, Halls, and Societies 

OF Oxford University 245 

G. Table of Examinations for the B.A. 

Degree 246 

H. List of Professors, Readers, Lecturers 

AND Tutors 1921-22 249 

L College Fellows and Fellowships . . . 255 

J. Regulations Governing the American 

Rhodes Scholarships 258 

K. Select List of Books for Reference . . 265 

Index ■ •• 271 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

A View of Oxford from the Air . . . Frontispiece t--" 

The New Loggan Print of Christ Church 8 ^ 

Magdalen College from the Cherwell ... 25 

Merton College Library 119^ 

The Radcliffe and St. Mary's Spire from 

Brasenose Old Quad 122 ^ 

Garden Front of St. John's 129 ^ 

Eights AND Barges 171 

Trinity College Lime Walk "179 '^ 

Cecil John Rhodes 189 ^ 

Rhodes Marching in Procession to the 

Encaenia, 1899 203 "" 



PREFACE 

The chief aim of this book is to present in a concise, 
accurate and readable form the more important facts 
about Oxford University which are of interest particularly 
to prospective Rhodes Scholars and generally to the 
academical public. 

It is in a measure a descendant of a smaller volume 
written and compiled in 1907 by two American Rhodes 
Scholars, R. F. Scholz and S. K. Hornbeck, and entitled, 
Oxford and the Rhodes Scholarships. At that time the 
Rhodes Scholarships had been in operation but three 
years. Messrs. Scholz and Hornbeck creditably per- 
formed a valuable service in thus making available to 
prospective American students much information about 
the University which had been theretofore obtainable 
only with difficulty, if at all. Their book was published 
by the Oxford University Press in an edition long since 
exhausted. 

Another volume which formerly set forth many of the 
facts herein presented was the Oxford University Hand- 
book, a semi-official publication issued from time to time 
by the Oxford University Press. The last edition (1914) 
is now out of print. 

Since 19 14 many changes have occurred at Oxford. 
To name but two: Greek is no longer an absolute re- 
quirement for admission; and women students (pre- 
viously admitted only to lectures and examinations) have 
now full University privileges and may receive degrees. 



X PREFACE 

Likewise, important changes have been made in the 
administration of the Rhodes Scholarships. 

Thus, both the difficulty of obtaining the earlier 
sources of information, and their inaccuracy in the light 
of the present, have made the publication of a new book 
of this nature imperative. 

This book, however, is not a new edition of the Scholz- 
and-Hornbeck volume or of the Handbook. The editors 
have endeavored to offer a book of somewhat wider scope 
and interest than either. On the other hand, the present 
manual is not in any way official or semi-official. 

Matters such as examination requirements, and quali- 
fications for degrees, standing, etc., have been prepared 
with reference to the most recent official or semi-official 
publications of the University; and their accuracy has 
been checked by persons in immediate touch with Oxford. 
While, where possible, the formal statutory language has 
been departed from, it is believed that the statements 
made in lieu thereof are substantially correct. The 
explanatory notes referring to the several Honour 
Schools (Chapter IV) were originally written by Rhodes 
Scholars familiar by actual experience with the respective 
Schools discussed, and were published in the American 
Oxonian for April, 1920. 

In addition to such technical but important topics, the 
editors have included chapters on the history of the 
University and Colleges, on social life and activities, on 
Rhodes, and the history of the American Scholarships; 
all of which may be of general interest. 

Although acknowledgment has been made to its author 
at the head of each chapter, the editors wish to thank 
especially, on behalf of all American Oxonians, Mr. Jo- 



PREFACE xi 

seph Wells, M.A., Warden of Wadham College, who 
kindly consented to write the chapter on the Colleges. 
In this, many readers will be reminded of his de- 
servedly well-known books upon Oxford and its life. 
They also acknowledge their debt to Mr. Francis J. 
Wylie, M.A., Oxford Secretary to the Rhodes Trustees, 
who contributed the chapter on Admission and Standing, 
and the appendix on Expenses, subjects on which he 
writes with unquestioned authority, and to Mr. E. S. 
Craig of Magdalen, Assistant Registrar and Secretary 
to the Boards of Faculties, who has read all the proofs 
and made invaluable corrections based on the latest 
information about the regulations governing the Univer- 
sity — a task which no one else could have done, not 
merely so well, but at all. 

The remainder of the book is the work of Americans 
who at one tim.e or another have been at Oxford as 
Rhodes Scholars. For them, and for other Rhodes Schol- 
ars who have aided its publication, the reward lies only 
in the pleasure of assisting (be it ever so little) in carrying 
out the great plan of Rhodes. That plan may be made 
more effective by the fuller recognition and juster appre- 
ciation in America of the opportunities and advantages 
offered by the Rhodes Scholarships; and also, on some 
hoped-for day, by the establishment of similar scholar- 
ships to bring British students to the United States. No 
Rhodes Scholar is today so powerful as to be the Ameri- 
can Rhodes. But each believes in and desires to promote 
to his best ability the fullest success of the Trust in whose 
great benefits he has shared. And each cherishes his 
Oxford memories. 

As this volume goes to press, news comes from England 



xii PREFACE 

of the death of Sir George Parkin, who retired in 1920 
from his post as Organizing Secretary of the Rhodes 
Trust. Rhodes Scholars all over the world who have 
honored and loved him will see in his death the definite 
ending of the first and most difificult period in the adminis- 
tration of the Scholarships. Almost his last official act 
was to recommend that the local responsibility for the 
Scholarships be entrusted to the ex-Rhodes Scholars 
themselves in all the countries which participate in the 
scheme, and the era of new interest and enthusiasm which 
followed is the best possible proof of the wisdom of his 
decision. To aid in carrying out that trust and to further 
in some measure the work which Sir George Parkin 
so well began is the purpose of this volume. 

L. A. C. 
F. A. 

July, 1922 



OXFORD OF TODAY 



CHAPTER I 
THE HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY 

By C. F. Tucker Brooke, B.Litt., West Virginia and 
St. John's, '04, Professor of English, Yale University 

Oxford University was never founded; it grew. 
All that can be said with much assurance of its earliest 
history is that the University long antedates any of the 
Colleges and Halls which later came to make it up, and 
that it ranks in antiquity second only to Paris among 
the universities of northern Europe. Eight hundred 
years it has of recorded activity. In 1133, a Parisian 
scholar, Robert PuUus, or Pullein, was delivering at 
Oxford a series of lectures on the Bible which made a 
stir among the students and gained ecclesiastical prefer- 
ment for the lecturer. A few years later Vacarius, an 
eminent Italian graduate of Bologna, lectured on Roman 
law, introducing a then new branch of study, which is 
still one of the fundamental parts of the Oxford curricu- 
lum. 

Till near the end of the thirteenth century, Oxford 
University was a shifting mass of scholars and masters, 
unsolidified as yet by the possession of public buildings or 
distinct corporate privileges. Students lodged in towns- 
men's houses, and heard lectures in their masters' private 
rooms or in monastic halls. Such conditions made for 
impermanence and turmoil. Sanguinary brawls against 
citizens or Jews were the rule; and where there was so 



2 OXFORD OF TODAY 

little in the way of a fixed stake, the insubstantial bonds 
that fastened the University at Oxford were constantly 
on the point of snapping. Bequests at this period were 
commonly made to the University, at Oxford, or wher- 
ever else it might later happen to be situated. A riot 
over the murder of a girl by a student, in 1208, caused 
the whole volatile body of scholars to evaporate, and 
came near to extinguishing the University. Another 
riot, in 1264, drove the students to fold their tents and 
swarm to Northampton, with the idea of joining malcon- 
tents from Cambridge to set up a new university. The 
"great riot" of February, 1298, and that of St. Scholas- 
tica's Day (Feb. 10, 1354) amounted to civil war. The 
number of embattled "clerks" on the former occasion 
was three thousand, and rustics from all the neighboring 
countryside were enlisted to fill the ranks of their adver- 
saries. 

Between about 1291 and 1335 arose the famous 
"Stamford schism". Religious differences, accentuated 
by hostility between northern and southern students, 
impelled the northerners to seek in Stamford (Lincoln- 
shire) a more congenial environment. The depravity of 
Oxford life was cited in justification of the secession, 
which, the migrants informed Edward III (in a French 
letter), was "by reason of many quarrels, bickerings, and 
fights which have long been and still are in the Uni- 
versity of Oxenford, whereby great damages, plots, 
deaths, murders, maimings, and robberies have many 
times occurred." Only the sternest application of royal 
force finally broke up the incipient University of Stam- 
ford, saving Oxford and Cambridge from a serious rival. 
The fear of secession lasted long. As late as 1827 all 



HISTORY ' 3 

candidates for Oxford degrees were still obliged to 
take oath that they would neither deliver nor listen to 
academic lectures at Stamford. 

In spite of these disorders, and partly in consequence 
of them, the thirteenth century saw a vast growth of the 
University. The two repositories of actual power — the 
King and the Church — both had excellent reason to 
encourage and conciliate the Oxford clerks, and usually 
they did not hesitate to take the part of the latter as 
against the townsmen or the Jews. The normal result 
of a town-and-gown riot, or a threatened secession of 
scholars, was either clerical excommunication of the town 
or civic disfranchisement, to be annulled only on the 
humbling of the city officers and the concession of further 
privileges to the University, which thus gradually 
gained much in money, in police jurisdiction, and in 
prestige. The City suffered materially as well as in the 
pride of its officials. It has been said that in order to 
become the home of a great university, Oxford sacri- 
ficed in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries the posi- 
tion it had held previously as a place of primary political 
and commercial importance. 

The growth of the University was greatly fostered, 
during the same period, by the newly founded orders of 
Dominican and Franciscan Friars. Bands of these — 
Black Friars and Grey Friars respectively — flocked to 
Oxford in the early thirteenth century, and opened 
friaries which soon became vital centres of the educa- 
tional system. The Dominicans ultimately grew domi- 
neering, and before they were subdued nearly disrupted 
the whole structure of university discipline. The 
Franciscan culture, on the other hand, seems to have 



4 OXFORD OF TODAY 

coalesced most beneficially with the spirit of the place. 
Three stupendous scholars of the thirteenth century — 
than whom Europe produced no greater — were Francis- 
can Oxonians: Bishop Grosseteste (d. 1253), Roger 
Bacon (d. 1294), and Duns Scotus (d. 1308). 

During the latter part of the thirteenth century there 
arose slowly the first suggestions of that dual academic 
system — University and Colleges- — ^which has since so 
distinguished Oxford and Cambridge. Three Oxford 
colleges — University, Balliol, and Merton — contend for 
the honor of having instituted the collegiate idea in 
English education. It was Merton which first got 
actually under way, with the most generous endowment 
and the most practical and far-sighted constitution. It 
was founded in a series of statutes of gift, between 1262 
and 1274, by Walter de Merton, a self-made man, who 
rose to be Keeper of the Great Seal and Lord Chan- 
cellor under Henry III, and ultimately Bishop of Roches- 
ter. University College had its germ in the bequest by 
William of Durham, who died in 1249, of 310 marks 
(about 200 pounds) for the perpetual maintenance of 
ten or more "masters" at the University. The terms of 
this endowment were not put into actual effect till 
1280. Balliol derives its existence from Sir John de 
Balliol, father of the King of Scotland, who in 1260 
made a penitential vow to support poor scholars at the 
University. It was his widow, Dervorguilla, who in 
1282 gave his benefaction a permanent and definite 
character. (The oldest Cambridge college, Peterhouse, 
dates from 1284.) 

The first half of the fourteenth century was at Oxford a 
period of splendid activity. Hardly Paris, even, enjoyed 



HISTORY 5 

greater prestige throughout Europe, and students flocked 
to the premier English university in such numbers that 
a contemporary writer ventured to estimate the total aca- 
demic population at thirty thousand^ — an impossible 
figure, of course, even when all servants and casual 
hangers-on are included. Dante himself is reported to 
have studied theology at Oxford, and great numbers of 
Italian and French scholars migrated thither; but the 
majority of students from overseas came naturally from 
Ireland. The presence of Irish clerks thenceforward 
becomes a notable factor in internal conditions at the 
University, though they seem in general to have produced 
more heat than light. In this halcyon time of the early 
fourteenth century were founded Exeter College (131 6), 
Oriel (1324), and Queen's (1340), the last two under direct 
royal patronage. 

The visitation of the Great Plague in 1349 wrought 
havoc in Oxford. With the plague a decline set in; but 
the general gloom at the end of the fourteenth century is 
relieved by the creation of one of the most magnificent of 
all the foundations. New College (1379). This was the 
more than princely work of the great architect-Bishop of 
Winchester, William of Wykeham, the builder of Wind- 
sor Castle and founder of Winchester School. 

By the time of Chaucer's death in 1400, it will be seen, 
Oxford already possessed a number of its present col- 
leges and many of the statutes and customs that still 
govern it. Its former unhoused condition had been 
largely remedied ; some of the chief architectural beauties 
of the University were already in existence — notably, 

' Probably the highest reasonable estimate of University mem- 
bers at this period is 4,000. 



6 OXFORD OF TODAY 

Merton and New College and St. Mary's Church, a part 
of which served the University as an assembly hall (House 
of Congregation). The municipal structures, however, 
such as St. Michael's Church, the Wall and Castle, still 
were more imposing than the collegiate, and the great 
body of students still lived poorly as boarders in citizens' 
houses or in unendowed private halls. Chaucer himself, 
who is traditionally reported to have lived nearby at 
Woodstock, has left two priceless portraits of the poor 
students of his time. One, the Clerk of Oxenford of the 
Prologue, is a theologian, meek, bookish, and ascetic. 
The other. Master Nicholas of the Miller's Tale, is a 
senior student in the sciences, occupying a room in the 
house of a well-to-do carpenter, where he is the sole 
lodger. He is devoted to astrology and mathematics, 
musical, well-dressed, and mild to look upon, though 
capable of guileful pranks ; and he is persona grata to his 
host and hostess for all his knavery. From this tale and 
its Cambridge counterpart, the Reeve's Tale, one gets a 
truer picture of normal town and gown relations than 
from the riot records and the academic statutes. 

In the fifteenth century education declined in Eng- 
land as much as literature. Political subserviency and 
divided aims hampered the freedom of teaching during 
the -Wars of the Roses. The most notable events of 
the reigns of Henry VI, and his successors till the end of 
this time, were not intellectual but material: the acqui- 
sition from Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester of the first 
great library the University had possessed; the estab- 
lishment of an Oxford press, which was certainly the 
second in England, and if the date on its earliest volume 
(1468) be correct, actually antedated Caxton's press at 



HISTORY 7 

Westminster; and the foundation of four more colleges. 
The last were all due to the munificence of wealthy 
bishops, whose methods and motives in college-building 
often suggest those of recent American industrial million- 
aires. In 1427 Lincoln College was founded by Richard 
Fleming, Bishop of Lincoln, an over-zealous and unpopu- 
lar detester of heresy. In 1437 Henry Chichele, 
Archbishop of Canterbury, statesman and diplomat, 
instituted two colleges, All Souls and St. Bernard's, the 
latter of which was in 1555 merged in St, John's. In 1458 
William Waynflete, Bishop of Winchester, added the 
crowning glory of Magdalen. 

The next century was very different. The so-called 
English Renaissance, in the reign of Henry VIII, was 
largely made in Oxford. The leaders in the movement to 
introduce the "new learning" in place of the old scholas- 
ticism were three Oxonians: William Grocyne of New 
College and Magdalen, "the first Englishman who taught 
Greek to his fellow countrymen in his native land"; 
Thomas Linacre of All Souls, founder of modern medical 
science in England, but hardly less famous as a Grecian; 
and John Colet, the apostle of liberal theology at Oxford 
and founder of St. Paul's School in London. A measure 
of the diversity and power of the influences at this time 
operant at the University is gained when one adds to the 
men just mentioned three other still greater alumni: 
William Tyndall, the reformer and Bible-translator; 
Cardinal Wolsey ; and Sir Thomas More. Erasmus, who 
himself studied at Oxford between 1497 and 1500, has 
left a classic characterization of four of these leaders: 
"When I listen to my friend Colet, I seem to be listening 
to Plato himself. Who does not admire in Grocyne the 



8 OXFORD OF TODAY 

perfection of his training? Wliat can be more acute, more 
profound, or more refined, than the judgment of Linacre? 
What has nature ever fashioned softer, or sweeter, or 
pleasanter, than the disposition of Thomas More?" 

Three new colleges arose during the reign of Henry 
VIII: Brasenose (1509), Corpus Christi (1516), and 
Wolsey's magnificent establishment, first known as Car- 
dinal College (1524), but later renamed Christ Church 
(1546) by the King. The spirit of More and Erasmus is 
particularly evident in the enlightened statutes of 
Corpus, which has remained since a special shrine of the 
humanities. 

The intellectual ardor of the Renaissance was soon 
choked by the bigotry of the Reformation. The reign of 
Edward VI (1547-1553) is chiefly remarkable for the 
vandalism of the Protestants, who tore down as sacri- 
legious the architectural emblems of the older faith 
and destroyed whole libraries of monastic learning. The 
Catholic reaction under Mary transferred atrocities at 
Oxford from books, images, and stained glass to human 
lives. Latimer and Ridley were burned (October 16, 
1555) beside the walls of Balliol, where now the Martyrs' 
Memorial stands. The next year, Cranmer, whose 
archiepiscopal dignity had deferred his fate, made the 
great last speech, in which he recanted his recantations, 
in St. Mary's Church, and was hastened thence to the 
stake (March 21, 1556). The three great Oxford martyrs 
were all, as it chanced, Cambridge-bred; but they had 
been preceded in their suffering by an Oxford man, 
John Hooper, the first and stoutest of all the bishops 
burned by Mary, who went to the stake in his episcopal 
city of Gloucester, February 9, 1555. 



HISTORY 9 

The ancient Benedictine foundation, Durham College 
(1280), and Chichele's College of St. Bernard (1437) 
had been extinguished in the early days of the Refor- 
mation. In Mary's reign two important new colleges 
were established in their stead: Trinity (1554) on the 
site of Durham, and St. John's (1555) on that of St. 
Bernard's. 

The reign of Queen Elizabeth was not a glorious era 
for English education. Sluggishness, privation, and 
discontent were widespread in both the Universities, 
which at this period probably differed less than either 
before or since. MuUinger's account of conditions at 
Cambridge applies almost equally to Oxford: "Inter- 
mingling with a certain small minority of scions of 
noble houses and country squires, we find the sons of poor 
parsons, yeomen, husbandmen, tailors, shoemakers, car- 
penters, innkeepers, tallow chandlers, bakers, vintners, 
blacksmiths, curriers, ostlers, laborers." 

Despite a great recent increase in the cost of living, the 
poor scholars were still, of ten forced to subsist on the 
sums which had been judged sufficient for their support 
two centuries before. In Walter de Merton's time a 
shilling a week seems to have been an adequate, and 
18 pence an ample allowance for the board of a student; 
but a shilling a week meant starvation rations in 
Elizabeth's reign. Yet a number of the colleges still 
allowed no more. It may have been these material 
conditions that produced the intellectual torpor of which 
writers of the day complain. The university lecturers 
performed their statutory functions by rote, often lec- 
turing to empty benches. A contemporary character- 
ized the average student as one who "cares naught for 



lo OXFORD OF TODAY 

wisdom, for acquirements, for the studies which dignify 
human Hfe, for the Church's weal or for politics. He is 
all for buffooneries, idleness, loitering, drinking, lechery, 
boxing, wounding, killing." 

Mullinger draws an amusing contrast to show how far 
the ancient rules for undergraduate education had 
broken down: "The ideal undergraduate contemplated 
by university and college codes, was a decorous, modest, 
soberly attired youth who made his college his habitual 
home. Whenever he issued forth beyond its gates, it was 
only with the express permission of his tutor or the dean. 
Unless it devolved upon him as a sizar or poor scholar 
to perform some menial errand for a superior, he was 
always accompanied by a fellow collegian. He wore his 
academic gown, reaching to his ankles, and, unless a 
scholar, a round cloth cap. His hair was closely shorn 
and he eschewed tobacco. He loitered neither in the 
market-place nor in the streets, and shunned alike the 
lodging-house and the tavern. He attended no cock- 
fights, no baitings of bears or of bulls, no fencing matches; 
the popular and apparently innocent diversion of quoits 
could attract him neither as a player nor even as a 
spectator. He neither bathed nor boated. At the early 
morning service at five o'clock, and again in the evening, 
he was regularly to be seen in his place in the college 
chapel. On Sundays, feast-days, and eves, he wore a 
shining surplice, and although the garment was then 
five times more costly than at the present day, no 
narrowness of means could prevent him from possessing 
it in due newness and cleanness. Not less assiduous 
would be his attendance on the public lectures in the 
schools specially designed to assist him in his under- 



HISTORY II 

graduate course of study, — a patient attentive auditor 
from the commencement of each lecture to its close." 
Actually, Mullinger concludes, the ordinary undergradu- 
ate "was very much what the statutes expressly forbade 
him to be". 

The Reverend William Harrison, who wrote his famous 
Description of England for Holinshed's Chronicle in 
1577, has much to say of the Universities. He had been 
at both, and saw little to choose between them. Oxford, 
he says, has the finer situation, finer streets and buildings, 
but the inner life is equally poor at both, and both are 
equally pestered by rapacious tradesmen. "This also is 
certain, that whatsoever the difference be in building of 
the town streets, the townsmen of both are glad when 
they may match and annoy the students by encroaching 
upon their liberties, and keep them bare by extreme sale 
of their wares, whereby many of them become rich for a 
time, but afterward fall again into poverty, because that 
goods evil gotten do seldom long endure." Like other 
writers of the period, Harrison enlarges upon the bleak 
poverty of the usual scholar's life, and on the sorrier fact 
that when at last these same scholars attained high 
degrees and academic preferment, they then lived like 
drones, without intellectual ambition. 

At a time when the normal function of the universi- 
ties was to prepare men for the church, the educational 
level of the clergy was a fair criterion of the efficiency of 
college training. And the intellectual attainments of the 
average clergyman in the time of Elizabeth were scanda- 
lously low. Of the 116 clergy in the metropolitan arch- 
deaconry of London in 1563, 42 were adjudged almost 
Latinless — at a period when Latin was the key to all 



12 OXFORD OF TODAY 

knowledge. Richard Baxter (1615-1691), the Puritan, 
gives a sad account of the state of learning and morality 
among the ostensibly educated, as they were still to be 
found in country districts at the close of James I's reign: 
"In the village where I was born, there were four 
readers successively in six years' time; ignorant men, 
and two of them immoral in their lives, who were all 
my schoolmasters. In the village where my father lived, 
there was a reader of about eighty years of age that 
never preached, and had two churches about twenty 
miles distant. His eyesight failing him, he said Common 
Prayer without a book ; but for the reading of the Psalms 
and Chapters, he got a common thresher and day- 
laborer one year, and a tailor another year (for the clerk 
could not read well) ; and at last he had a kinsman of his 
own (the excellentest stage-player in all the country, and 
a good gamester and good fellow), that got orders and 
supplied one of his places. After him another young 
kinsman, that could write and read, got orders; and at 
the same time another neighbor's son that had been a 
while at school turned Minister, and who would needs go 
further than the rest, ventured to preach (and after got a 
living in Staffordshire). And, when he had been a 
preacher about twelve or sixteen years he was fain to 
give over, it being discovered that his orders were forged 
by the first ingenious stage-player. After him another 
neighbor's son took orders when he had been awhile an 
attorney's clerk and a common drunkard, and tippled 
himself into so great poverty that he had no other way to 
live. It was feared that he and more of them came by 
their orders the same way with the aforementioned per- 
son. These were the schoolmasters of my youth (except 



HISTORY 13 

two of tliem); who read Common Prayer ori Sundays 
and Holy-days, and taught school and tippled on the 
week days, and whipped the boys when they were 
drunk, so that we changed them very oft." 

Mighty intellects, indeed, passed through the Univer- 
sities in the Elizabethan era: Sidney, Raleigh, Peele, 
Lyly, Hooker — to mention only a few — through Oxford, 
and yet greater men — ^Spenser, Marlowe, Bacon — 
through Cambridge. But it was not the archaic systems 
of Oxford or Cambridge that developed their genius: it 
was the new English spirit which had as yet hardly broken 
into the Universities, but which soon was to make them 
torches to lighten the outer darkness described by Baxter. 

The three most important events in the history of 
Oxford during the reigns of Elizabeth and James I were 
the founding in 1571 of Jesus College, the first college 
instituted under Protestant auspices, and one designed 
for Welsh students just as Exeter had been for students 
from Southwest England ; the founding of Wadham Col- 
lege in 1613; and the great restoration of the Library. 
The books given by Duke Humphrey and the others that 
had accumulated about them had been scandalously 
dispersed during the Philistine reign of Edward VI, and 
the very building that housed them had been allowed to 
moulder till it was virtually a ruin. In 1598, Sir Thomas 
Bodley, a Magdalen man — then a veteran diplomat 
fifty-three years of age — set about the pious task of 
restoring the fabric of Duke Humphrey's Library and 
recovering the wealth of precious volumes which, in all 
parts of England, had been scattered to the winds by the 
abolition of monasteries in the reign of Henry VIII. In 
1603 the Bodleian was opened, and in 161 1 formally 



14 OXFORD OF TODAY 

endowed. It is the earliest and most beautiful of the 
great libraries now existing in England. In the number 
and value of its books it ranks, among British libraries, 
second only to that of the British Museum in London, 
which it far surpasses in age. 

It was during the reign of Charles I (1625-1649) 
that Oxford first began to take on that aristocratic charm 
of living conditions which since has marked it above all 
other universities in the world. Wolsey, in planning Car- 
dinal College (Christ Church), had indeed designed to 
raise the tone of life in his college above the penury of the 
usual academic regime; but his plans were only partially 
carried through. Another great churchman it was. 
Archbishop Laud, successively President of St. John's 
and Chancellor of the University, who more definitely 
than any one else set the patrician stamp on Oxford. 
Laud's personal career linked the sympathies of the 
University with the cavalier party, and this union became 
a fixed thing when in the Civil War Charles made Oxford 
his headquarters. As in the years following 19 14, mili- 
tary necessity wrought bizarre transformations in the 
University. The King held court in Christ Church ; the 
Queen and her ladies filled Merton; Magdalen Grove 
became a drill-ground and park for artillery; the college 
plate was melted to fill the royal war-chest; and the 
undergraduates enlisted in Rupert's cavalry. 

The cavalier tradition has never died. It is still a 
frequent Oxonian pose to revere the "Royal Martyr", 
Charles, and detest the Puritan; and the possession by 
any college of a bit of silver which escaped melting in 
1643 is still felt to require apology. The patrician 
spirit gradually developed a richer leisure and more 



HISTORY 15 

genial modes of life, wherein, in fact, the University was 
but bringing the manners and customs of its members 
into consonance with the generous architectural in- 
fluences it had inherited from an earlier time. 

Alien critics have sometimes seriously, and Oxonians 
themselves whimsically, complained of the too enervat- 
ing sweetness of the composite. Thus Andrew Lang of 
Merton says: "If St. John's men have lived in the Uni- 
versity too much as if it were a large country-house, if 
they have imitated rather the Toryism than the learning 
of their great Archbishop, the blame is partly Laud's. 
How much harm to study he and Waynflete have unwit- 
tingly done, and how much they have added to the 
romance of Oxford! It is easy to understand that men 
find it a weary task to read in sight of the beauty of the 
groves of Magdalen and of St. John's. When Kubla 
Khan 'a stately pleasure-dome decreed,' he did not mean 
to settle students there, and to ask them for metaphysical 
essays and for Greek and Latin prose compositions. 
Kubla Khan would have found a palace to his desire in 
the gardens of Laud, or where Cherwell, 'meandering 
with a mazy motion,' stirs the green weeds, and flashes- 
from the mill-wheel, and flows to the Isis through 
meadows white and purple with fritillaries. 

And here are gardens bright with sinuous rills. 
Where blossoms many an incense-bearing tree; 

but here is scarcely the proper training-ground of first- 
class men!" 

Lang would have been the first to exclaim in outrage 
against a literal construction of his words. Do the temp- 
tations of beauty menace character-building more than 



i6 OXFORD OF TODAY 

the perils of ugliness? It has not appeared that the 
intellectual and physical ardors of Oxford grew less 
intense as the conditions of life grew sweeter ; or that the 
men she trained amid her Georgian and Victorian ease — 
Gladstone, Newman, Arnold, Rhodes, Bryce, — deterio- 
rated in strenuousness from those she bred up in EHza- 
bethan austerity. 

If thoughts of politics and dogma chiefly occupied 
Oxford during the period of the Civil Wars and Com- 
monwealth, there was one group of men, meeting within 
the walls of Wadham College, that formed a remarkable 
exception to the rule. In the rooms of Dr. John Wilkins, 
Warden of Wadham from 1648 till 1659, gathered the 
choice spirits who were later incorporated by Charles II 
(1662) as the Royal Society. A leader among them., 
though no longer in regular residence at Oxford, was 
John Evelyn of Balliol, whose Diary has much to say of 
Wilkins and the Society. Two other members, both of 
Wadham, were "that prodigious young scholar, Mr, 
Christopher Wren" (as Evelyn calls him) and Thomas 
Sprat, poet and divine, who later wrote the history of the 
body. "The first meetings", says Sprat, "were made in 
Dr. Wilkins his lodgings, in Wadham College, which was 
then the place of resort for virtuous and learned men. . . 
There was a race of young men provided against the next 
age, whose minds receiving their first impressions of sober 
and generous knowledge were invincibly armed against 
all the encroachments of enthusiasm." The account of 
the subjects discussed, which is given by Dr. John 
Wallis (Savilian Professor of Geometry, 1 649-1 703), 
shows the presence among them of the real university 
spirit : "Our business was (precluding matters of theology 



HISTORY 17 

and state affairs) to discourse and consider of philo- 
sophical inquiries, and such as related thereunto: as 
Physick, Anatomy, Geometry, Astronomy, Navigation, 
Staticks, Magneticks, Chymicks, Mechanicks, and Nat- 
ural Experiments; with the state of these studies and 
their cultivation at home and abroad. We then dis- 
coursed of the circulation of the blood, the valves in the 
veins, the venae lacteae, the lymphatic vessels, the 
Copernican hypothesis, the nature of comets and new 
stars, the satellites of Jupiter, the oval shape (as it then 
appeared) of Saturn, the spots on the sun and its turning 
on its own axis . . . with other things appertaining 
to what hath been called the New Philosophy." 

"Thus it was", says Huxley in his essay on Improving 
Natural Knowledge, "that the half-dozen young men, 
studious of the 'New Philosophy', who met in one 
another's lodgings in Oxford or in London, in the middle 
of the seventeenth century, grew in numerical and in real 
strength, until, in its latter part, the 'Royal Society 
for the Improvement of Natural Knowledge' had already 
become famous, and had acquired a claim upon the vener- 
ation of Englishmen, which it has ever since retained, 
as the principal focus of scientific activity in our islands, 
and the chief champion of the cause it was formed to 
support." 

The pioneers of Science forgot their differences in their 
common devotion to the "new philosophy"; but the 
University generally during the middle of the seven- 
teenth century was given over to strife, political and 
theological. For a time the Church in Oxford suffered 
from the persecuting measures which it had itself 
employed against its Puritan members under Charles I. 



i8 OXFORD OF TODAY 

The use of the Church service was forbidden, and Pres- 
byterian and Independent divines denounced Episco- 
pacy from the pulpit of St. Mary's. But academic feel- 
ing softened theological bigotry; the performance of the 
Church service, though forbidden, was winked at, and 
Christ Church still treasures the picture of its three 
divines who braved the law and read the liturgy regularly 
throughout the period of the Commonwealth. 

The triumph of the Royal cause at the Restoration 
naturally brought back to Oxford those of her sons who 
had been expelled, and a period of great material pros- 
perity began; but it must be added that from the very 
first Restoration Oxford was open to the reproach of 
relaxed morals and of intellectual sloth which for a 
century at least was too well grounded. 

In the age of the Restoration Oxford was dominated 
by Dr. John Fell (162 5-1686), Dean of Christ Church, as 
his father had been before him. Fell was a typical 
product of the University. He had served as an officer 
in the royal army during the siege of Oxford and had 
suffered for the cause during the Commonwealth. He was 
passionate in his loyalty to King and Church, a great 
beautifier of his college and benefactor to the Univer- 
sity, and a scholar whose solid learning is still respected. 
He caused the erection (by Sir Christopher Wren in 
1682) of the great Tom Tower at Christ Church, and 
induced Sheldon, the Archbishop of Canterbury, to 
donate the Sheldonian Theatre (again on Wren's designs, 
1669), in order that the precincts of St. Mary's Church 
might no longer be secularized by academic meetings. 
He did much to foster the Oxford Press, presenting it 
with the beautiful Fell type, which is still in use and is 



HISTORY 19 

unmatchable in its way. His encouragement of scholar- 
ship went beyond the usual fields and lent impetus to the 
new study of Anglo-Saxon. Posterity, however, has not 
been grateful to Fell. He made the mistake of quarreling 
with Anthony Wood, the great historian of Oxford, who 
avenged himself effectively for Fell's bullying; and he 
incurred a yet more damaging immortality as the sub- 
ject of that undergraduate perversion of Martial's epi- 
gram, which for the naturalness and artless simpHcity of 
its sentiment almost deserves to be called the Ballade of 
College Deans: 

J do not like you, Doctor Fell. 
The reason why I cannot tell; 
But this I know, and know full well: 
I do not like you, Doctor Fell. 

In 1687, about the time of Fell's death — when Addison 
was on the point of entering Queen's and Steele, Christ 
Church — James II's effort to force upon Magdalen 
College a Roman Catholic President of his own naming 
brought Oxford again into the centre of the political stage. 
The King's violent ejection of President Hough and the 
Fellows of Magdalen was one of the overt acts that 
determined the Revolution of 1688, and it had the effect 
of qualifying for a time Oxford enthusiasm for the 
Stuarts. 

Yet the spirit of the University in the next century, 
the eighteenth, remained predominantly Tory and 
Jacobite. The physical loveliness of Oxford was probably 
greater at this period than at any other, for the noblest 
buildings were now complete, and the modern brick of 
the nineteenth-century city had not smutched the fresh- 
ness of their sylvan setting. The creation of Worcester 



20 OXFORD OF TODAY 

College, in 17 14, out of the older Gloucester Hall, and 
that of Hertford College out of Hart Hall, in 1740, vir- 
tually finished the college system as it is to-day. Pem- 
broke College, which has a notable list of great alumni, 
had been similarly evolved in 1624 out of Broadgates 
Hall. 

The intellectual atmosphere of Oxford in the eight- 
eenth century left much to be desired. There was much 
sloth, and more bitterness of party spirit, which are all 
luridly depicted in the Diary of the Jacobite antiquary, 
Thomas Hearne, and the vindictive essays of the Whig 
pamphleteer, Nicholas Amherst ("Terrae Filius"). Am- 
herst, who had been ejected from St. John's, thus pic- 
tures the fashionable undergraduates of Samuel John- 
son's time (ca. 1725), as observed by a newcomer fresh 
from public school : "He saw, though he could not agree 
they had a vast deal of learning, that they had very good 
linen; not abundance of wit, indeed, but very rich lace, 
red stockings, silver-button'd coats, and other things 
which constitute a man of taste in Oxford." The historian 
Gibbon, whose Autobiography contains a harsh invective 
against the educational inefficiency of the University in 
the middle of the century, adds a notable sketch of the 
superficial glory of the "gentleman-commoner" at this 
time. There is much in it that suggests present day 
conditions, though no modern freshman is arrayed like 
one of these. "My own introduction to the University of 
Oxford", he says, "forms a new era in my life, and at the 
distance of forty years I still remember my first emotions 
of surprise and satisfaction. In my fifteenth year I felt 
myself suddenly raised from a boy to a man ; the persons 
whom I respected as my superiors in age and academical 



HISTORY 21 

rank entertained me with every mark of attention and 
civility; and my vanity was flattered by the velvet cap 
and silk gown which discriminate a Gentleman-Com- 
moner from a plebeian student. A decent allowance, 
more money than a schoolboy had ever seen, was at my 
own disposal, and I might command among the trades- 
men of Oxford an indefinite and dangerous latitude of 
credit. A key was delivered into my hands which gave 
me free use of a numerous and learned library; my apart- 
ment consisted of three elegant and well-furnished rooms 
in the new building, a stately pile, of Magdalen College; 
and the adjacent walks, had they been frequented by 
Plato's disciples, might have been compared to the Attic 
shade on the banks of the Ilissus. Such was the fair 
prospect of my entrance (April 3, 1752) into the Univer- 
sity of Oxford." 

Gibbon enjoyed the luxury of a gentleman-commoner 
at Magdalen; Johnson, some twenty years earlier, lived 
the life of a poor scholar at Pembroke. Both departed 
without degrees, Gibbon with an utter contempt for the 
lax intellectual discipline of the place; Johnson with an 
affectionate veneration which often taxed all his powers of 
paradox in its defence. Self-reverence, self-knowledge, 
self-control have always been special needs of the Oxford 
undergraduate, and they were hardly ever so indispen- 
sable — or so rare — as in the eighteenth century. 

The chief literary interest of the time appears to have 
been a kind of belles-lettristic trifling, in which Christ 
Church was then preeminent. When vanity or inad- 
vertence brought such sciolists into open debate with real 
scholars, as early in the century when the wits of Christ 
Church clashed with Richard Bentley in the famous dis- 



22 OXFORD OF TODAY 

pute over ancient and modern learning, there ensued a 
rout so terrific that even the interposed genius of Swift 
and Pope could not respectably cover their retreat. The 
eighteenth century at Oxford is likely to appear to us 
today an age of vanity and party bigotry — the expulsion 
of Methodists in 1768 is no isolated phenomenon. To us 
it seems a dull age which even the charming manner of 
its historian, Mr. A. D. Godley, can hardly gild with 
interest. Yet Mr. Godley is right in claiming for it a 
considerable subterranean progress, evidenced by the 
change that the University unwittingly passed through 
before 1800. "It is", he says, "a change from disorder 
to order in Colleges : in the University, the substitution 
(at last) of a modern and stimulating system of honour 
examinations for mediaeval exercises." 

Till the year 1800 examinations for degrees were gov- 
erned by the Laudian statutes of 1636, which look impres- 
sive on paper, but were in fact executed in a perfunctory 
and puerile spirit. Dr. John Eveleigh, Provost of Oriel 
from 1 78 1 till 1 8 14, was more than anyone else responsible 
for the introduction of the competitive system of exami- 
nations for honours, out of which grew first the justly 
famed Honour School of Literae Humaniores and that of 
Mathematics, and then the seven others developed in the 
nineteenth century: Natural Science, Jurisprudence, 
Modern History, Theology, Oriental Studies, English 
Language and Literature, and Modern Languages. 

The torpid mental life of the University was galvan- 
ized into energy, and the first third of the nineteenth 
century became one of the most brilliant periods in 
Oxford's history. A striking fact is the intellectual 
hegemony enjoyed by Oriel at this time. A Fellowship 



HISTORY 23 

of Oriel came to be the premier distinction in the Univer- 
sity. Thomas Arnold, an Oriel Fellow, becoming Head- 
master of Rugby School in 1828, reformed the entire 
system of English Public School education. Four other 
Fellows — John Keble, E. B. Pusey, R. H. Froude, and 
J. H. Newman — wrote the name of Oxford large on nine- 
teenth-century religious thought. The Oxford Movement 
crystallized in the Tracts for the Times, begun in 1833. In 
particular, Tract 90, by Newman, made much history. 
Some idea of the nature of this intellectual revival is 
given in a sketch of Newman's mind by a younger Oriel 
man, J. A. Froude, the historian: "Newman's mind 
was world-wide. He was interested in everything which 
was going on in science, in politics, in literature. Nothing 
was too large for him, nothing too trivial, if it threw 
light upon the central question, what man really was, and 
what was his destiny. . . His natural temperament 
was bright and light; his senses, even the commonest, 
were exceptionally delicate." Eighteenth-century Oxford 
hardly bred such men; nineteenth-century Oxford, 
though it did not multiply Newmans, was prodigal of his 
type. In 1831, Gladstone of Christ Church took his 
double-first, in classics and mathematics; and the next 
year entered Parliament to trumpet to the world the 
soundness of the Oxford stamp. From this time on, 
British political thought was in no small degree moulded 
by men who opened their careers by a first-class in the 
"Lit. Hum." examination. Goldwin Smith of Christ 
Church and Magdalen took his first in 1845, James Bryce 
of Trinity, in 1862; H. H. Asquith of Balliol, in 1874. 
By the time that A. H. Clough and Matthew Arnold went 
from Balliol to Oriel Fellowships (in 1841 and 1845 



24 OXFORD OF TODAY 

respectively), and J. A. Froude, from Oriel to an Exeter 
Fellowship (in 1842), the intellectual preeminence in 
Oxford was passing from Oriel to Balliol, which under 
the Mastership of Jowett (i 870-1 893) continued to 
maintain a somewhat Spartan dominance. 

The second half of the nineteenth century was marked 
by an increase in aesthetic interests. Shelley and Landor, 
in the early part of the century, had stormy and disas- 
trous careers; Keble and Newman were but incidentally 
men of letters. The graduates of the 'forties — Clough 
and Arnold, for example — found an atmosphere more 
congenial to pure literature. After 1850 there was little 
to curb the impulse to belles letires. William Morris 
and Edward Burne-Jones of Exeter, A. C. Swinburne of 
Balliol, Oscar Wilde of Magdalen, Andrew Lang and 
George Saintsbury of Merton, were not lonely figures in 
the undergraduate life of their day. The high priest of 
this aesthetic cult was Walter Pater of Queen's, Fellow 
of Brasenose from 1864 till 1894. Simultaneously there 
flourished, in evident connection with the rising fortunes 
of the Modern History School, a remarkable series of 
English historians: J. A. Froude, J. R. Green, Mark 
Pattison, William Stubbs, E. A. Freeman, S. R. Gar- 
diner; while Frederic Harrison of Wadham, graduating 
with a first class in "Lit. Hum." in 1853, became the leader 
of the new Positivist philosophy. 

No single college and no single course of study enjoys 
today the preeminence which Oriel and the "Lit. Hum." 
School held a century ago. The ease with which Oriel, 
and after it Balliol, secured the leadership is explained 
by Goldwin Smith's picture of Magdalen in the 'forties, 
an institution then not greatly different from the college 



HISTORY 25 

of Gibbon's description. "My Magdalen", he says in his 
Reminiscences (191 1), "like my Eton, was a relic of 
the past. It had forty Fellowships, thirty Demyships or 
Scholarships, and a revenue of forty thousand pounds a 
year, besides its rich dower of historic beauty. It took no 
Commoners, and its educational output in my time was 
eight or ten undergraduate Demys and one Gentleman 
Commoner, who, being under the phantom authority of 
the nonagenarian President, lived in a license beyond 
even the normal license of his class. Frederick Bulley, 
afterwards President, did something for us as tutor, at 
least in the way of most kindly interest and encourage- 
ment; but we really depended for instruction upon pri- 
vate tutors; 'coaches' they were called. . . 

"In those days before University Reform the Fellow- 
ships of Magdalen were divided among certain counties, 
and there was no prospect of a vacancy in my county. 
I had to seek a Fellowship elsewhere. It was with keen 
regret that I left Magdalen ; my heart has always turned 
to its beauty, and often the sound of its sweet bells has 
come to me across the ocean. Reformed it had, in justice 
to the University and the nation, to be; and I had to 
bear a hand in the process ; but I was helping to destroy a 
little Eden in a world where there are not many of them." 

The reforms of the 'fifties, carried through in pursu- 
ance of an Act of Parliament of 1854, were started by the 
efforts of a group of liberal-minded Fellows within the 
University, prominent among whom were Smith, Jowett, 
Mark Pattison, and Arthur Penrhyn Stanley. The 
effect — beside important changes in university govern- 
ment — was to correct abuses of two kinds, which Froude 
indicates in sketching the conditions of 1836. "The 



26 OXFORD OF TODAY 

scheme of teaching for the higher kind of men", he de- 
clares, "was essentially good, perhaps as good as it could 
be made ; incomparably better than the universal knowl- 
edge methods which have taken its place. But the idle 
or dull man had no education at all. His three or four 
years were spent in forgetting what he had learnt at 
school. . . The discipline was lax, the undergraduates 
were idle and extravagant ; there were scandalous abuses 
in college management, and life at the University was 
twice as expensive as it need have been." 

The multiplication of Honour Schools and the reform 
of the Pass Degree aimed at securing a creditable amount 
of supervised study from those undergraduates who were 
unlikely, from taste or lack of ability, to shine in Literae 
Ilumaniores. Keble College was established in 1870 with 
the purpose of providing an Oxford education at a cost 
lower than that necessary at the older colleges. The 
previous creation, in 1868, of the Delegacy of Non-Colle- 
giate Students served still more to provide for the require- 
ments of poor students, and reclaimed to the University 
the right of functioning, as in the Middle Ages, inde- 
pendently of the colleges. Another concession to modern 
needs, following a new Oxford and Cambridge Univer- 
sities Act in 1877, was the establishment of foundations 
for the education of women : Somerville College and Lady 
Margaret Hall in 1879, St. Hugh's in 1886, and St. 
Hilda's Hall in 1893. Very recently the tendency to 
democratize has further led to the abandonment of the 
Greek requirement for admission, the granting of de- 
grees to women, and the creation of the D.Fhil. degree by 
the side of the old research degrees of Bachelor and 
Doctor of Letters and of Science. 



HISTORY 27 

With this broadened efficiency there has grown up an 
equally modern tendency to strike averages and plot 
curves instead of holding to the old cruel faith in the 
demonstrable superiority of the better man. The "uni- 
versal knowledge methods" of the Victorian Reform, 
which Froude deprecated, have so vastly complicated the 
machinery of university examinations as to produce a 
scepticism regarding their absolute results. Thus Mr. 
Godley wrote in 1908 : "It may be doubted whether mod- 
erns retain that whole-hearted belief in the educational 
efficacy and saving grace of examinations which cer- 
tainly prevailed thirty years ago. Then, they were the 
supreme and final test of merit and the only real guide 
of study: and society was to be regenerated by them. 
There may be some who would still maintain that these 
optimistic expectations have been realised. We have 
not quite lost our illusions. But all good things have 
their questionable side: a system, which at first was a 
useful servant, has now become a rather tyrannous mas- 
ter: probably most teachers in Universities at least re- 
gard examinations as something of a necessary evil ; even 
society in general has begun to suspect that there may be 
other means of selection for the public service. Perhaps 
it is a sign of improved ideals that the man who aims at a 
First Class for itself (that hero of the early and middle 
Victorian age) is now regarded as a rather vulgar and un- 
satisfactory person, and that, in the opinion of most, 
examination is no better than a wolf held by the ears: 
there are inconveniences in retaining hold of the raven- 
ous beast, but still graver inconveniences might result 
from letting it go." 

It is certain that present-day Oxford is moving very 



28 OXFORD OF TODAY 

rapidly — in which direction who shall say? Whether 
the wolf of intellectual indifference that ravened through 
the eighteenth century will again be set free, or some 
gentler modern suasion will replace the rude grip of 
competitive examination, rests probably on the knees of 
a future Parliamentary Commission. Two things, how- 
ever, must be said. Despite the lugubriousness of Froude, 
an economic and scientific century has imposed universal 
knowledge methods upon Oxford in a form so merciful 
that it still seems a cultural Utopia in contrast with other 
British or American universities. And the grip on the 
wolf's ears is not yet very dangerously relaxed. A dozen 
years ago, when Mr. Godley was writing with a natural 
tutorial gloom, there did exist among undergraduates of 
the better type a strong faith in the Honour Schools. 
There did exist, despite the disillusions and chances of 
Public Examinations, a happy trust that mental superi- 
ority is a tangible, provable, and supremely desirable 
thing. One believes that this faith and trust exist in 
Oxford still, and one applauds her for them; for these 

Are yet the fountain-light of all our day, 
Are yet a master-light of all our seeing. 



CHAPTER II 

THE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNIVERSITY AND 
COLLEGES 

By L. A. Crosby, B.C.L., M.A., Maine and Trinity, 'ij 

The most important and most peculiar characteristic 
of the University of Oxford is that it is a university of 
colleges. "Not merely a university and colleges ; rather, 
a university of colleges." Both the University and the 
Colleges are incorporated bodies. Membership in the 
former is acquired and retained only through member- 
ship in a College, Hall or other recognized society, which is 
itself a federated member of the University. 

To Americans this curious interrelationship (whose 
only counterpart in the university world is at Cam- 
bridge) is best explained by reference to the close analogy 
offered by the political organization of the United States. 
The Federal Government corresponds to the University ; 
the States, to the Colleges; and the citizens, who exer- 
cise their rights of national citizenship in and through 
their respective States, correspond to undergraduates 
and graduates, whose University rights and privileges 
are dependent primarily upon membership in a College 
or other recognized body. This striking parallel ex- 
tends, though less exactly, to the governmental organs of 
the Republic and its States, on the one hand, and of the 
University and its Colleges, on the other. The principal 



30 OXFORD OF TODAY 

weakness in this analogy is that while in America the 
Federal Government has gained greatly in importance at 
the expense of the States, in the life of Oxford, the Col- 
leges (although working in close harmony and co- 
operation) seem to have more prominence than the 
University. At any rate, except at matriculation, exam- 
inations, degree days, and in contests with Cambridge, 
the University counts for very little in the life of the 
undergraduate, and the College, for very much. To the 
undergraduate the University seems but the sum of the 
Colleges. 

This relation of Colleges and University is so funda- 
mental and of such far-reaching effect upon all aspects of 
Oxford life that it must be firmly grasped by all who 
would understand how Oxford lives and works. It will 
be frequently referred to and more frequently taken for 
granted throughout this book. 

THE UNIVERSITY AS A BODY CORPORATE 

Oxford University is a body corporate, existing under 
the laws of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and 
Ireland, and consisting of a group of twenty-one col- 
leges, several halls, and recognized societies, and of 
approximately 15,000 individual undergraduate and grad- 
uate members. Of these about 5,000 are undergraduates 
in residence. 

Individual membership in the University is open to 
all men and women who satisfy the requirements of ad- 
mission (see Chapter III). It is acquired by matricula- 
tion, and retained (both before and after graduation) by 
the pajonent of certain university and college fees. All 
undergraduates must pay these fees. Graduates may or 



ORGANIZATION 31 

may not pay them, as they choose; but failure to pay 
them means the loss of "membership" in the University 
and of all its attendant rights and privileges. In actual 
practice graduate membership is kept up generally by 
graduates residing in the United Kingdom and by others 
who have special ties of sentiment, loyalty, or interest. 

The requirement of fees, as a condition to graduate 
membership in the University, is not unreasonable, how- 
ever unfamiliar to Americans; for that membership car- 
ries with it both academic and political rights. Every 
graduate who has taken the degree of M.A. or some 
higher degree, and who fulfills the requirement of fees, 
is (i) ipso facto a member of Convocation, and entitled 
to vote upon all proposed University legislation ; and (2) 
entitled (if a British subject and not otherwise legally 
disqualified) to vote in the elections of the two members 
who represent the University in the British House of 
Commons. 

Oxford and Cambridge are often spoken of by English- 
men as "national" universities. The term is misleading, 
for neither is national in the sense that it is supported by 
or administered under the direction of the British Govern- 
ment. Like every other institution in the Kingdom, 
Oxford is subject to Parliamentary legislation. But it is 
a "national" university only in the sense that it is not local 
or provincial in character, but by tradition, history, and 
present importance, intimately identified with the life and 
development of the British nation. It is supported not 
by grants but by income from University endowments, by 
fees, and by contributions from its constituent colleges. 

Under the existing Acts of Parliament and Statutes of 
the University, its government is organized as follows: 



32 OXFORD OF TODAY 

A. Executive and Judicial Officers: 

1. The official head of the University is the Chancellor 
who is elected for life by Convocation. As he is a non- 
resident officer, his actual functions are chiefly honorary, 
and his executive power is largely delegated to his deputy, 
the Vice-Chancellor. The Chancellor is usually a dis- 
tinguished graduate of the University, prominent in the 
political or intellectual life of the Kingdom. The present 
Chancellor is Lord Curzon of Kedleston, formerly Viceroy 
of India, and for several years a leading member of the 
British Cabinet. 

2. The Vice-Chancellor, as already indicated, is the 
actual executive head of the University. He is nominated 
annually by the Chancellor from among the Heads of Col- 
leges. It is customary for the Heads of Colleges to be nomi- 
nated to this office in the order of their election as Heads, 
and also for the Vice-Chancellor to be re-nominated three 
times, so that the office is ordinarily held by one person for 
four consecutive years. He presides at all meetings of the 
governing bodies of the University, sees to it that all statu- 
tory meetings, lectures, etc., are duly held, confers degrees, 
and represents the University at public functions. He also 
has certain judicial powers, appointing the assessor or deputy 
who acts as judge ordinary in the Court of the Chancellor 
which has jurisdiction in all civil cases involving resident 
members of the University. (See Appendix D.) Assisted by 
the Proctors, the Vice-Chancellor exercises a general super- 
vision over University affairs and is responsible for the 
maintenance of order and discipline. No public entertain- 
ment can be held in the City without the consent of the 
Vice-Chancellor and the Mayor. But with all these 
powers, the Vice-Chancellor's position is not comparable 
in power and importance, either within or without the 
University, to that of the President of Harvard, Yale, or 
Princeton. 



ORGANIZATION 33 

3. The two Proctors are elected annually by the 
Colleges in rotation from among their fellows and lecturers. 
Aside from their general duty to assist the Vice-Chan cellor, 
the most conspicuous function of the Proctors is the actual 
enforcement of University discipline (see Appendix C). 
They may be seen of an evening walking about the city 
accompanied by two or three professional persons called 
"bull-dogs" or "bullers" whose duty it is to summon or 
catch statute-breaking undergraduates and bring them to 
their master to be told when to appear before him for 
judgment. 

4. In addition to the foregoing, the University ofificers 
include a High Steward, Public Orator, Bodley's Libra- 
rian, Registrar, Keeper of the Archives, Clerks of the 
Market, Coroners, Bedells, and others — whose duties, real 
or nominal, are too special to be here described. 

B. Legislative and Administrative Bodies: 

1. Convocation, the ultimate legislative body of the 
University, consists of all "members of the University"^ 
resident and non-resident, who have taken the degree of 
M.A., D.D., D.C.L,, or D.M. In November, 1920 Convo- 
cation numbered 7069 members. 

2. Congregation, a smaller body numbering about 600 
members, includes all resident "members of the University"^ 
who have taken the degree of M.A. and who are concerned 
with either the teaching or the administration of the Uni- 
versity. 

3. The Hebdomadal Council consists of the Chancellor, 
the Vice-Chancellor, the ex-Vice-Chancellor (for one year 
after the expiration of his term) the Proctors, and 18 
members elected for terms of six years by Congregation, 
three from among Heads of Colleges or Halls, six from 

* For definition of "members of the University" see pages 30-31. 



34 OXFORD OF TODAY 

among Professors, and nine from among members of Con- 
vocation of not less than five years' standing. 

4. The Ancient House of Congregation, which consists 
of all Doctors and MA.'s for two years after admission to 
their respective degrees, all Professors, University Ex- 
aminers, resident Doctors, Heads and Deans of Colleges 
and Principals of Halls, is now of less importance. Its 
only powers are the granting of ordinary degrees, which 
after the University requirements have been satisfied is a 
pure formality, and the confirmation of the appointment 
of examiners. 
The Hebdomadal Council alone has the power of initia- 
ting University legislation. A new statute approved by it is 
then promulgated in Congregation, which may adopt, 
reject, or amend. In its approved form, the statute must 
then be submitted to Convocation, which may adopt or 
reject, but cannot amend it. Convocation also transacts 
much of the ordinary business of the University by means 
of decrees; it confers honorary degrees, sanctions petitions 
to Parliament, and authorizes the afifixing of the Univer- 
sity seal. But no proposals can be made to Convocation 
which have not been sanctioned by the Hebdomadal 
Council. 

From the foregoing brief analysis, it will be apparent 
that the constitution of the University of Oxford is singu- 
larly democratic. It places far more power in the hands 
of its graduates and especially in the hands of those 
engaged in educational or academic work than do most 
American universities. It is not subject to the control of 
a small and self-perpetuating body of trustees or overseers 
dominated by business or professional men. But every 
graduate, who retains his "membership" in the University^ 

*For requirements of graduate "membership" see pages 30-31. 



ORGANIZATION 35 

and who has taken the degree of M.A., D.D., D.C.L., 
or D.M., has the right to a voice in all funda- 
mental changes of policy. In June, 1919, when the 
statute for the abolition of Greek as a compulsory 
entrance requirement was before Convocation, over 
1200 graduates were present and voted on the question. 

COLLEGES, HALLS, AND SOCIETIES ^ 

Besides being a University of individual members, 
Oxford is also a federation of twenty-one Colleges, one 
"Public Hall", two'Termanent Private Halls", and a society 
of "non-collegiate" students, membership in all of which 
is limited to men; to which federation have been added by 
recent legislation four Colleges or Halls and anon-collegiate 
society all exclusively devoted to women students. 

A College, in the usual Oxford meaning of the term, is 
an incorporated body distinct from, while in a sense a 
member of, the corporate body which is the University. 
The Colleges, as such, enjoy a large degree of practical 
independence, and still. more theoretical freedom; they 
are endowed institutions which manage their own prop- 
erty, elect their own officers, and make their own rules; 
they are not, as Colleges, directly subject to the laws and 
regulations of the University (which bind individual 
members rather than Colleges), and the Proctors have 
no power within their walls. But notwithstanding these 
distinctions, the relation between University and Colleges 
is intimate; for all members of the Colleges are members 
of the University, and practically all members of the 
University are members of some College. 

In each of the twenty-one Colleges for men (except All 

>For list of Colleges, Halls and Societies see Appendix F. 



36 OXFORD OF TODAY 

Souls, Christ Church, and Keble Y the members of the 
corporate body are the Head,^ the Fellows, and the 
Scholars.^ In every College a Scholar is an undergrad- 
uate who receives an annual stipend not generally exceed- 
ing 80 pounds from his College, and who as such is a 
member of the "foundation". Scholarships are as a rule 
awarded only after a competitive examination, and are 
tenable for two years, subject to renewal for an additional 
two years if the conduct and diligence of the Scholar have 
been satisfactory. Scholarships at Oxford are regarded as 
rewards for intellectual merit and not as gifts to the 
impecunious; they are held in high esteem; Scholars 
wear distinctive gowns and enjoy certain privileges in 
their Colleges. (Rhodes Scholars are not Scholars in 
this sense; their scholarships are the gift of a private trust 
and entitle them to no special status in the Colleges.) 
In many Colleges there are "Exhibitions" and in some 
Colleges "Bible Clerkships"; both of which entitle the 
holders to certain financial assistance and some, but 
usually not all, of the privileges of the Scholars. 

The majority of the undergraduate students in each 
College are neither Scholars nor Exhibitioners, but 

* At All Souls there are no Scholars ; at Keble there are no Fellows ; 
Christ Church is a Cathedral Chapter as well as a college and the foun- 
dation includes the Dean and Canons, as well as the Students (Fellows) 
and the Scholars. 

^ The title of the Head is "Master" at University, Balliol, and Pem- 
broke; "Warden" at Merton, New College, All Souls, Wadham, and Ke- 
ble; "Rector" at Exeter and Lincoln; "Provost" at Oriel, Queen's, and 
Worcester; "President" at Magdalen, Corpus Christi, Trinity, and St. 
John's; "Principal" at Brasenose, Jesus, and Hertford; and Dean at 
Christ Church. 

3 At Merton the Scholars are called "Postmasters"; and at Magdalen, 
"Demies". 



ORGANIZATION 37 

"Commoners", and are not in the technical and legal 
sense "members of the College". But for all practical 
purposes they are and have the status of members, and 
are universally called such. 

The government of a College is in the hands of its 
Head and Fellows,^ one of whom acts as "dean" and en- 
forces college discipline. Each College is not only in law 
and theory a distinct body, but also is physically and eco- 
nomically independent. Each occupies entirely sepa- 
rate grounds and buildings, usually arranged in quad- 
rangles, and all entirely enclosed by walls. The buildings 
usually include a house for the Head, suites and rooms 
for the Fellows and undergraduates, a chapel, lecture 
rooms, a library, college offices, a dining hall, and kitchen. 
Many Colleges have gardens within their walls. Prac- 
tically all the Colleges are closely grouped in the very 
heart of the City. 

A Public Hall differs from a College principally in 
that it is not a corporate body, and has no Fellows or 
Scholars. Although in mediaeval days Oxford had more 
Halls than Colleges, today there is but one surviving 
Hall, — St. Edmund, which is closely connected with 
Queen's College. 

Permanent Private Halls may be licensed by the 
University, and their members thereby admitted to its 
privileges and degrees, just as other students. Of these 
institutions there are but two, both conducted by Roman 
Catholic orders: Campion Hall, by the Jesuits; and 
St. Benet's Hall, by the Benedictines. 

All male undergraduates who are not members of a 
College or Hall belong to the Society of Non-Collegiate 

1 For details regarding Fellowships, see Appendix I. 



38 OXFORD OF TODAY 

Students, which dates from 1868. They enjoy the same 
University privileges as members of Colleges. The 
Society is governed by a Censor and certain University 
Delegates, and has a staff of tutors; but maintains no 
buildings for the residence of its members. 

In addition to the foregoing there are a number of 
institutions for male students in Oxford which may be 
described as more or less affiliated with the University 
without being strictly a part of it. Among these are 
Mansfield College, maintained by the Congregationalists 
for theological students; Manchester College, a similar 
institution maintained by the Unitarians; Wycliffe Hall, 
Ripon Hall, and Pusey House, which are Anglican insti- 
tutions; and St. Stephen's House, which is Roman 
Catholic. 

Only since 1920 have women been admitted to full 
membership and to degrees in the University. But 
societies for women students in Oxford have existed since 
1880, and members of such societies and other women 
students have been admitted to lectures and University 
examinations since 1884. Under the University statute 
of May II, 1920, women undergraduates and graduates 
are entitled to practically the same University rights and 
privileges as men, except that they are not admitted to 
the degrees of B.D. and D.D. 

The women's societies whose members are entitled to 
these privileges are: Lady Margaret Hall (founded in 
1878); Somerville College (1879); St. Hugh's College 
(1886); St. Hilda's Hall (1893); and the Society of 
Oxford Home Students, founded in 1879 and corre- 
sponding roughly to the Society of Non-Collegiate Stu- 
dents established for men. 



ORGANIZATION 39 

Admission to the University is theoretically open to 
all, irrespective of age, sex, creed, color, nationality, or 
station. But no person can become a member of the 
University unless he or she has first been admitted to 
some one of its Colleges, Public or Permanent Private 
Halls, or recognized non -collegiate societies. The Uni- 
versity as such, apart from these bodies, can admit no 
members. The result is that the Colleges, which are free 
to accept or reject an applicant, are in a position largely 
to control both the numbers and quality of the under- 
graduates. 



CHAPTER III 
ADMISSION AND STANDING 

By F. J. Wylie, M.A., Oxford Secretary to the Rhodes 
Trustees {Some time Fellow of Brasenose College) 

First, as to Admission. There is only one means of 
approach to the University of Oxford — through a College 
or Hall, or through the Society of Non-Collegiate Stu- 
dents. Even the Vice-Chancel lor of the University is 
powerless either to accept a candidate who comes to him 
in any other way, or to refuse a candidate presented to 
him for matriculation by the proper officer of a College 
or Hall or of the Society of Non-Collegiate Students. 
The first step, therefore, to be taken by any one who 
wishes to be admitted to Oxford is to get himself accepted 
by one of these bodies. He should apply to the head of 
the body in question, submitting full information as to 
his record, interests, and intentions, and forwarding at 
the same time a few testimonials as to character and 
attainments. This, which is the normal procedure, is 
simplified for Rhodes Scholars ; for all applications to 
Colleges go through the Oxford Secretary, and the 
required evidence as to character, record, etc., is pro- 
vided by the Scholar's dossier, which is forwarded to 
Oxford after his election. 

In future other candidates for admission will be able, 
if they so desire, to make application to Colleges through 
the office of the Registrar of the University, a Secretary 
for Admissions having recently been appointed, whose 



ADMISSION AND STANDING 41 

function it will be to act as a channel of communication 
between Foreign or Colonial Students and the Colleges. 

Secondly as to Standing. A student coming with an 
A.B. degree does not, for that reason, rank at Oxford as a 
graduate student, or even as a "Senior" (in the American 
sense of the word). Socially, he is always just a 
freshman : for "freshman" at Oxford means no more than 
a man in his first term, or first year, without any reference 
to studies. Academically, his standing will depend partly 
upon his scholastic record prior to coming to Oxford, and 
partly on his proposed line of study at Oxford. 

It may be presumed that an American Student holding 
only an A.B. degree will normally read for one of the 
Final Honour Schools: and he will wish to know what 
"credit" he can get. 

There are two examinations preliminary to these Final 
Honour Schools — viz. Responsions (see p. 58), and an 
Intermediate Examination known as The First Public 
Examination (see p. 59). Students from other Univer- 
sities can generally obtain exemption either from both 
of these examinations ' (if awarded "Senior Standing"), 
or at any rate from the first (if awarded "Junior Stand- 
ing"). 

Senior Standing is the status obtainable by any person 
who has obtained an "approved" degree at an "approved" 
University. It carries with it one year's academic Stand- 
ing, and excuses from all Examinations preliminary to 
rhe Final Honour Schools. 

The responsibility for "approving" degree and Uni- 
versity rests with the Hebdomadal Council. That body 
reserves to itself complete discretion, and has not hither- 
to published any list of approved universities or approved 



42 OXFORD OF TODAY 

degrees. It is understood, however, that, in dealing with 
American universities, the Council is guided, without 
being bound, by the list of universities and colleges 
issued by the Association of American Universities. 

So long as Oxford continues to take this list as the basis 
of its judgments, students who have obtained the B.A. 
degree from any of these Universities, or even the B.S. 
degree where that degree represents a liberal education, 
and not a technical or professional training, are likely 
to get Senior Standing. Conversely, students from 
American Universities not on the above-mentioned list 
must be prepared to get Junior Standing only; and the 
same is true of students who have not obtained a degree, 
whatever the institution from which they may have 
come. Since, however, the list contains some 150 names, 
and includes all of the leading American Universities, 
and since Rhodes Scholars have normally graduated 
before they come into residence at Oxford, it is probable 
that in any year a considerable proportion of American 
Rhodes Scholars will obtain Senior Standing. 

One point in connection with Senior Standing deserves 
mention. The Statute itself does not lay down conditions 
of "approval". It does not, for instance, insist on any 
special languages as necessary for the approval of a 
degree. In actual practice the "approval" of Hebdomadal 
Council has been determined by consideration rather of 
the general character of the course leading to the degree 
than of the question whether this or that given subject 
has formed part of the course. A student, therefore, who 
has graduated from a University that is "approved", 
may hope to find that his degree entitles him to Senior 
Standing although languages may not have been em- 



ADMISSION AND STANDING 43 

phasized in his course, and although he may not have 
studied either Latin or Greek. On the other hand the 
holder of a purely technical or professional degree must 
not expect Senior Standing, even though the University 
from which he has obtained the degree may be on the 
list of approved institutions. 

Junior Standing is the status obtainable by any student 
from a Foreign or Colonial University who has pursued 
a course of study at that University extending over two 
years at least, provided that (i) his course of study, and 
the standard attained by him in any examinations proper 
to the course, have been approved by the Hebdomadal 
Council, and (2) his course has included the study of 
two languages other than English, Latin or Greek being 
one of those languages. This status carries with it one 
year's academic standing, and exemption from Respon- 
sions, but not from the First Public Examination. 

It may be presumed that Rhodes Scholars will nor- 
mally qualify at least for Junior Standing. Attention, 
however, must be drawn to the condition that either 
Latin or Greek must be included in any course on which 
a claim to Junior Standing is based. That condition is 
explicit, and cannot be evaded or ignored. 

Anyone, therefore, who does not qualify for Senior 
Standing, and who cannot satisfy the condition for 
Junior Standing that either Latin or Greek must have 
been included in his course, will have to take Respon- 
sions, or some examination exempting from Responsions, 
before coming into residence. Arrangements can be 
made, through the courtesy of the Oxford Local Exam- 
inations Delegacy, whereby a Rhodes Scholar in this 
situation can sit for an examination in his own College 



44 OXFORD OF TODAY 

or University which will, if he pass it, exempt him from 
Responsions — the papers being sent from Oxford and 
corrected by Oxford Examiners. This examination can 
be taken in July, and passing it will relieve him of the 
necessity of going to Oxford to take the ordinary Respon- 
sions Examination in September. This, however, is a 
matter of detail. What matters is that it should be 
clearly understood that a Rhodes Scholar, as such, is 
exempt from no University Examinations at Oxford, 
and consequently that, if he does not satisfy the condi- 
tions for Junior or Senior Standing, he will have to pass 
Responsions or an examination accepted as exempting 
from Responsions. 

It may be well to note here two further points. Firstly, 
students who obtain Senior or Junior Standing may not 
take the ordinary Pass Schools. Senior Students must 
take one of the Honour Schools; Junior Students may 
take either an Honour School or the Schools of Forestry 
or Agriculture. Secondly, Senior and Junior Standing 
are of importance only to candidates for the B.A. degree. 
The main privilege conferred is exemption from certain 
examinations, preliminary to the B.A., Avith which 
candidates for Advanced Degrees are not concerned. 

It is entirely natural that a student coming to Oxford 
from another university should desire to get Senior 
Standing, and even feel some soreness should he fail to 
do so. It is easy, however, to exaggerate the importance 
of the difference between the two Standings. What, 
actually, does it amount to? Junior and Senior Srudents 
both secure exemption from Responsions : both also 
secure one year's academic standing, which makes it 
possible for them, provided that they obtain Honours, to 



ADMISSION AND STANDING 45 

"proceed to" the B.A. degree in two years, in place of the 
normal minimum of three. The difference is that the 
Junior Student must pass an intermediate examination, 
from which the Senior Student is excused. Since, how- 
ever, this examination will be, in the main, along the 
lines of his work for such Final Honour School as he may 
have selected, and is ordinarily not very difficult, it will 
prove less of an interruption than might at first sight 
appear. The worst that can be said of it is that it makes 
it somewhat harder — without making it in any way im- 
possible — to take a Final Honour School in two years. 
A large number of American Rhodes Scholars in the past, 
who have been given Junior Standing, have taken their 
schools in two years, and done well in them. 

As regards procedure, application for Standing under 
the Foreign Universities' Statute must be made to the 
Registrar, through an officer of the society (college or 
hall) of which the applicant is, or has been accepted as, a 
member. The application should be accompanied by a 
complete academic record, showing courses, gradings, 
and degree (if any) ; as also by a catalogue of the uni- 
versity at which the applicant has studied. 

So much for the B.A. degree and for the privileges 
which candidates for that degree may claim according 
as they secure Junior or Senior Standing — in other words 
for the "credit" which they can get at Oxford for work 
done elsewhere. Not every American Rhodes Scholar, 
however, will read for the Final Honour Schools, -^.vhicb 
lead to the B.A. degree. Some no doubt will v/ish to b^; 
admitted to study for the B.Litt. or B.Sc. — these, at 
Oxford, are advanced degrees — or for the D.Phil. 

The B.Litt. and B.Sc. can be approached either 



46 OXFORD OF TODAY 

through the B.A., or without taking that degree first. 
The foreign student who appHes for permission to read 
for either B.Litt. or B.Sc. without having previously- 
taken the Oxford B.A., must: 

1. be over 21 years of age; 

2. submit evidence to the Committee for Advanced Studies 

that he has received a good general education; 

3. satisfy the Board of Faculty to which his Subject belongs 

that he is "well fitted to pursue" such a course of special 
study or research as he contemplates. 

All necessary evidence to this end must be transmitted, 
through an official of the Oxford college of which the 
applicant is, or is going to be, a member, to the Assistant 
Registrar, who will then bring the application before the 
different bodies concerned. The Board of Faculty will 
approve an application only if satisfied that the proposed 
course of study can profitably be pursued at Oxford. 

The status of a student reading for the B.Litt., or 
B.Sc. is technically that of an undergraduate. His work 
will be graduate in character, but he will rank for 
other purposes as an undergraduate. 

The status of a student reading for the D.Phil, is dif- 
ferent. He is not an ordinary undergraduate, in the eyes 
of the University, but an "Advanced Student." He wears 
a distinctive gown, unless already a graduate of Oxford 
(in which case he wears the gown proper to his degree). 
He stands, academically, somewhere between under- 
graduates and graduates ; of which intermediate position, 
indeed, his gown is itself a symbol, being more dignified 
than the ordinary Commoner's gown while at the same 
time less ample than the gown worn by Bachelors of Arts. 



ADMISSION AND STANDING 47 

The foreign student who wishes to be admitted to the 
status of Advanced Student, without having previously 
taken any Oxford examinations or degrees, must make 
his appHcation to the Committee for Advanced Studies 
through the Assistant Registrar, submitting at the same 
time evidence: 

1. that he is not less than 22 years of age; 

2. that he has pursued a course of study at one or more 

universities extending over four years at the least, and 
has obtained a degree ; 

3. that he is fitted to enter upon his proposed course of study. 

If the Committee for Advanced Studies "approve" the 
university, or universities, in question, and also the de- 
gree, and are satisfied of the candidate's fitness to pursue 
the course of study which he has suggested, he will be 
qualified for admission as an Advanced Student on ma- 
triculation (should he not already be a matriculated 
member of the University) as soon as he shall have paid 
"the statutable fee of five pounds". 

It may be well in conclusion to remind Americans that 
at Oxford the line between graduate and undergraduate 
studies is less distinct than it is in the United States, and 
the students themselves less separated. Advanced Stu- 
dents are members of the same colleges as undergrad- 
uates; they live with them, and share (or at least are 
free to share) in all the normal activities that make up the 
life of a college. Rhodes Scholars, indeed, are not merely 
"free to" share in that life, they are expected to — whether 
their status be Junior, Senior, or Advanced. 



CHAPTER IV 

THE OXFORD SYSTEM OF EDUCATION 

By L. A. Crosby, B.C.L., M.A., Maine and Trinity, 'jj 

The teaching staff at Oxford consists of (i) University 
Professors, Readers, Lecturers, and Demonstrators, 
numbering more than lOo; and (2) about 300 College 
Fellows, Tutors, and Lecturers. All are grouped into 
Faculties as follows: Theology, Law, Medicine, Literae 
Humaniores, Modern History, Mediaeval and Modern 
Languages, Oriental Languages, and Natural Science.^ 
Each Faculty has a Board of Faculty, which supervises 
the subjects of examination, prepares lecture lists, and 
recommends the appointment of University Lecturers 
and Demonstrators. There is also a General Board of 
the Faculties ; and with the institution of the Doctorate 
of Philosophy for "Advanced Students" there has been 
created a "Committee for Advanced Studies". 

The system of instruction includes lectures, informal 
group conferences, and personal tuition. Lectures are 
given by both University and College teachers ; and are 
practically combined into one system. The distinction 
between strictly professorial and strictly college lectures 
is indeed one of form rather than substance. The Uni- 
versity co-operates with the Colleges, and each College 
with every other, in promoting academic harmony and 
efficiency. Practically all lectures, even those held in 

1 See List of Members of Faculties, Appendix H. 



SYSTEM OF EDUCATION 49 

college lecture rooms, are open to all members of the 
University without conditions or payment of special 
fees. There is also co-operation and exchange between 
the Colleges in the matter of providing personal tuition. 
A course of lectures on any particular branch or aspect of 
a subject ordinarily consists of two or three lectures of 
one hour each per week for a term of eight weeks. No 
record is kept of attendance, but an undergraduate is 
expected to attend such lectures as may be recommended 
by his tutor. 

In some departments of the University, and especially 
among graduate students the use of the group conference 
or seminar is prevalent. 

But both lectures and group conferences are after all 
only the educational superstructure and ornamentation 
of Oxford. The real heart and strength of the Oxford 
system is personal tuition of undergraduates by College 
Fellows and Tutors. Immediately on arrival in the 
University, each undergraduate is assigned by his College 
to a tutor. The tutor is a Fellow, Tutor, or Lecturer of 
his or some other College, subject to whose guidance, the 
undergraduate will pursue his studies (or "reading", in 
the Oxford phrase) during terms and vacations through- 
out his course at the University. The tutor directs the 
student's work, advises him to attend certain lectures, 
and to read certain books. Once or twice weekly the 
student spends an hour or more in conference with the 
tutor ; at which time he usually reads an essay or essays 
embodying the results of his reading since the last 
conference. The essay is followed by the tutor's com- 
ments and criticism, and an informal discussion, in which 
the tutor aims to assist the undergraduate in the analysis 



50 OXFORD OF TODAY 

and correct statement of the matter involved. The sys- 
tem is intensely individualistic, and quite free from for- 
mality; and undoubtedly operates as a strong incentive 
to reading and thought by the undergraduate. It fosters 
the reading habit and a desire for culture, which are of 
unusual importance since Oxford terms are short and the 
bulk of his reading must be done by the undergraduate 
at home during vacations. The tutor's influence is not 
restricted to the crowded days of term. 

In appearance there is much of advice but little of com- 
pulsion about the Oxford system. There are no "required 
courses" as such, and "credits" and "hours" are unheard 
of; even attendance at lectures is not strictly compulsory. 
Once matriculated, the undergraduate's intellectual 
obligation to the University is measured only by his own 
ambition; if he desires a degree (as he naturally does) 
he must pass certain intermediate examinations and a 
final examination at the end of his course, all of which 
are set by the University. His obligation to his College 
is less formal but more real. Most Colleges will not admit 
or retain students (except in special cases) unless they 
seriously intend to read and actually do read seriously for 
a degree of some sort. While the tutor may not compel 
the student to attend lectures, he will keep in touch with 
his progress week by week, and will test it by informal 
examinations from term to term. If the tutorial report 
is not satisfactory, the student will be ofificially warned 
by the Head of the College to mend his ways ; too great 
disregard of such warnings leads to suspension. 

The advantages of the Oxford system are the advan- 
tages of personal attention and adaptation of instruction 
to personal needs. The conscientious and able tutor will 



SYSTEM OF EDUCATION 51 

greatly assist the able student; and will stimulate re- 
markably the mediocre or indifferent. The mediocre 
tutor will not materially affect the career of the serious 
student; and will accomplish little for the rest. Stupid 
or incorrigibly lazy students will do no more and probably 
no less under this system than under any other; but at 
any rate they can not retard the progress of others. 

The University examination system furnishes the real 
moral force behind the informal methods of undergradu- 
ate instruction at Oxford. Especially is this true in the 
so-called "Honour Schools" which embrace two-thirds 
of the undergraduate body. In each of these Schools 
the final examination stands at the end of the course 
and covers the work of two or three years. The standard 
and character of the examinations is such as to promote 
a thoroughness and accuracy in preparation and study 
which is often absent from undergraduate work in 
American universities. The results of examinations are 
classed and published; conspicuous success is held in 
high esteem throughout the University) A number of 
University prizes, and prize scholarships^ (distinct from 
college scholarships) also stimulate intellectual com- 
petition among the undergraduates. 

Graduate study at Oxford is conducted under the 
direction of Supervisors, one or more of whom is desig- 
nated for each student. The Supervisor is not expected 
to give his protege systematic instruction. 

The University year is divided into three terms: 
Michaelmas Term, beginning on October 10 and ending 
December 17; Hilary (or Lent) Term, beginning Janu- 

• For information as to prizes, etc., see the current edition of the 
Oxford University Calendar, published annually by the Clarendon Press. 



52 OXFORD OF TODAY 

ary 14, and ending on the day before Palm Sunday; and 
Trinity Term, beginning on the Wednesday after Easter 
Sunday, and ending on the Saturday after the first 
Tuesday in July. A term is "kept", for the purposes of all 
statutory requirements of residence, by six weeks' resi- 
dence in Oxford. Custom and college regulations have 
somewhat modified the limits of the terms for practical 
purposes of undergraduates, so that the dates for "coming 
up" (taking up residence) are not necessarily the exact 
dates of the beginning of terms, and the period of ter- 
minal residence is usually eight or nine weeks. 

"Residence", or as it is defined in the University 
statutes "victum siimere et pernoctare" , must be either 
(i) within the walls of a College or Hall ; or (2) in lodgings 
licensed by the University; or (3) in special circum- 
stances, in unlicensed lodgings. In any case the place of 
residence must ordinarily be within a mile and a half 
of Carfax, a point approximately at the centre of the 
City. Most Colleges and Halls prefer that their under- 
graduates should reside during their first year or two 
within their walls; thereafter, lack of rooms makes it 
generally necessary for them to reside in lodgings. 

For eligibility for the degree of Bachelor of Arts 
(B.A.) nine terms of residence (three years) .are required; 
except in the case of students who receive "Junior" or 
"Senior" standing, for whom this is reduced to six 
terms (two years). The residence requirements for 
graduate or special degrees are stated in the discussion 
of these degrees in Chapter VI. 



CHAPTER V 

COURSES OF STUDY: THE B.A. DEGREE AND 
THE HONOUR SCHOOLS 

By L. A. Crosby, B.C.L., M.A., Maine and Trinity, '13 

Study at Oxford is generally directed toward one or 
another of the degrees/ diplomas, or certificates author- 
ized by the University statutes. These include the 
following : 

Degrees 

NAME ABBREVIATION 

Bachelor of Arts B.A. 

Master of Arts MA. 

Bachelor of Music B.Mus. 

Doctor of Music D.Mus. 

Bachelor of Letters B.Litt. 

Doctor of Letters D.Litt. 

Bachelor of Science B.Sc. 

Doctor of Science D.Sc. 

Doctor of Philosophy D.Phil. 

Bachelor of Civil Law B.C.L. 

Doctor of Civil Law D.C.L. 

Bachelor of Medicine (Surgery) B.M. (B.Ch.) 

Master of Surgery M.Ch. 

Doctor of Medicine D.M. 

Bachelor of Divinity B.D. 

Doctor of Divinity D.D. 

* The University does not issue diplomas evidencing the bestowal of 
degrees; but any one admitted to a degree can obtain a certificate of his 
admission thereto from the Registrar of the University on payment of a 
fee of five shillings. 



54 OXFORD OF TODAY 

Diplomas 

are given for prescribed special work in: 

Anthropology Geography 

Classical Archaeology Public Health 

Education Ophthalmology 

Economics and Political Science Rural Economy 

Forestry Theology 

Certificates 
are given for prescribed special work in: 

Anthropology Modern History 

Geography Surveying 

and for special proficiency in the use of French or German. 

For each and all of these titles of academic achieve- 
ment, the University statutes and regulations prescribe 
detailed requirements of time and accomplishment. 
Time in this connexion may mean either residence, i. e. 
actual time at Oxford; or standing, i. e. time during 
which a person has been a member of the University and 
of a certain status therein, although not necessarily a 
resident member. Mental attainment or accomplishment 
for these various degrees, diplomas and certificates is 
determined mainly by examinations, written, or oral, or 
both written and oral; and also, for the research degrees 
and special doctorates, by dissertations or published 
works. 

The rules applicable to all these matters are issued 
annually by the University in the form of "Examination 
Statutes", published by the Clarendon Press. Informa- 
tion contained in this volume may be amplified and 
verified to date by reference to the then current edition 
of the Examination Statutes. 



B.A. DEGREE AND HONOUR SCHOOLS 55 
The B.A. Degree 

The great majority of students in residence at 
the University at any time are engaged in preparing 
themselves for one or another of the many sets of ex- 
aminations which are held annually in June and which 
lead the successful candidate to the degree of B.A. 
This is true not only of the English undergraduates, who 
have entered the University directly from the "public" 
schools; but also of Rhodes scholars and other students 
from abroad. The B.A. is, practically speaking, the most 
important and certainly the most characteristic Oxford 
degree. 

At the outset, however, it must be understood that 
there is a fundamental classification of B.A.'s, cor- 
responding to a fundamental grouping of all under- 
graduate work into the Pass School, on the one hand, 
and the Honour Schools, on the other. There are ten 
Honour Schools, one Pass School, and also the School of 
Agriculture and Forestry, which, while not an Honour 
School, is not ordinarily included in the term "Pass 
School". The ten Honour Schools bear titles indicating 
their subjects: Literae Humaniores (Classics); Mathe- 
matics; Natural Science; Jurisprudence; Modern His- 
tory; Theology; Oriental Studies; English Language 
and Literature; Modern Languages; and Philosophy 
Politics and Economics. 

In this connexion the term "School" means a distinct 
set of University examinations, covering the School 
subject and its various branch or closely related sub- 
jects; a distinct course of lectures; and a more or less 
organized faculty — consisting of University Professors, 



56 OXFORD OF TODAY 

Readers, and Lecturers, and of College Tutors, Fellows, 
and Lecturers, in the subject or subjects embraced in the 
School. There is not (except in the case of the Schools 
of Modern Languages, Natural Science, and Agriculture 
and Forestry) a University building or buildings devoted 
to any particular School; nor is there a dean, or presi- 
dent," or other administrative officer. The physical 
marks which distinguish a separate school in an Amer- 
ican university are absent. 

The undergraduates of the Pass School, who now 
number about one-fourth of the student body, have come 
to the University for experience, self-culture, develop- 
ment, and social life; and incidentally for a certain 
amount of knowledge. Their subjects of study are not 
radically distinguishable in variety and standard of work 
from those taken by an average and scholastically unam- 
bitious undergraduate in an American liberal arts college ; 
and their tested knowledge at the end of their course will 
be about the same. If they succeed in their examinations, 
in the eyes of the University they will have merely 
"passed." No distinctions are open to them. The Pass 
School has its own examinations, and lectures; and 
tutors apply Pass methods to Pass-men. The Pass School 
has been well described as "a varied and well-conceived 
(if not an exacting) programme of studies for those who, 
although averse to the exertions required in the Honour 
Schools . . , may nevertheless be inoculated with some 
tincture of the liberal arts." The work of this School can 
easily be done in three years from matriculation. 

On the other hand, the Honour Schools are vastly 
superior, in m.ethod, standard, and subject-matter. 
They represent high standards of study, more or less 



B.A. DEGREE AND HONOUR SCHOOLS 57 

specialized. Each Honour School is devoted to one 
general subject, or collection of subjects belonging to the 
same general branch of knowledge (e. g. the Natural 
Science School, which includes eight distinct sciences, 
each of which is actually treated as a School in itself). 
Each has its lectures, its faculty, its system of examina- 
tions, and its board of examiners. Candidates are 
publicly classed on the results of examinations; and the 
distinction of a "first class" is highly prized. The Schools 
naturally vary in severity, as in subject-matter; but the 
Honours B.A. is not simple and easy in any School. 
American students, even those who have previously 
done some post-graduate study, find the Honours B.A. a 
task worthy of their mettle; while those who have not fin- 
ished or have just finished undergraduate work in America 
will have their hands full if they attempt to win a first 
or second class. The English undergraduate normally 
spends three years from matriculation on such Schools 
as Jurisprudence, Modern History, English Literature, 
or Modern Languages; and four on Literae Huma- 
niores.^ American students who have previously fin- 
ished college work at home will not ordinarily spend 
more than three years on any School; and those who 
have received the advantage of Senior Standing 
will frequently finish their Honour Schools in two 
years. 

Apart from and in addition to the passing of the pre- 
scribed examinations, the statutes of the University re- 
quire a minimum residence at Oxford of three years 

> This is true if Literae Humaniores is preceded by Honour Modera- 
tions in Greek and Latin Literature, as is usually the case; otherwise this 
Scl'.ool can he done in three years. 



58 OXFORD OF TODAY 

(nine terms) as a qualification for the degree of B.A. 
For Junior and Senior Students this is shortened to two 
years (six terms). 

The examinations which must be passed by candidates 
for the B.A, are: 

1. Responsions (normally passed before coming into residence, 

but not required of Junior or Senior Students); 

2. An Intermediate Examination, the subjects of which are 

open to a limited election on the part of the student, but 
which necessarily includes an examination in Holy 
Scripture or the statutory equivalent. Senior Students 
are exempt from the Intermediate Examination; 

3. A Final Examination. 

Responsions 

Responsions, the first examination in the course for 
the B.A. degree, while not strictly an "entrance examina- 
tion" (the University as such has no entrance examina- 
tion), practically serves that purpose; for the Colleges 
do not normally admit a candidate for that degree into 
residence until he has passed this examination. 

Until 1920 Responsions was a rigidly prescribed exam- 
ination in Greek, Latin, and Mathematics. In that year 
it was subjected to a reform which has made Greek an 
optional rather than a compulsory subject. But students 
who contemplate pursuing any one of the Final Honour 
Schools of Literae Humaniores; Modern History; 
Theology; Oriental Studies; English Language and 
Literature; Modern Languages; or Philosophy, Politics 
and Economics; must either offer Greek at Responsions, 
or the language or a portion of Greek history or litera- 
ture with texts in translation at the Intermediate Exam- 



B.A. DEGREE AND HONOUR SCHOOLS 59 

ination. From students contemplating the Final Honour 
Schools of Mathematics, Natural Science, and Juris- 
prudence, the Pass School, or the School of Agriculture 
and Forestry, no knowledge of Greek or of Greek history 
or literature is required at any time; but at Responsions 
those who do not ofifer Greek must offer Latin. 

Responsions now includes examinations in the follow- 
ing subjects: 

Group I (a) Latin, (6) Greek; 

Group II (a) English — History or Literature, (5) French, 
(c) German; 

Group III (a) Mathematics — Arithmetic, Algebra and Geome- 
try, {h) Natural Science — Elementary Chem- 
istry or Elementary Physics, (c) Mathematics 
and Natural Science. 

Candidates must pass either in both subjects of Group I 
and the first two subjects from Group HI; or in at least 
one subject from each Group and in four subjects in all; 
two of such subjects must be languages other than Eng- 
lish and at least three subjects must be passed at one 
examination. 

The standard of examinations in Responsions is not 
materially different from that of entrance examinations 
at Harvard University, except in the classics, where it is 
undoubtedly higher. 

The Intermediate Examination 

Once over the academic threshold of the University 
the student turns toward the Intermediate and Final 
Examinations. And here he is confronted with a 
fundamental choice — the choice between "Pass" and 



6o OXFORD OF TODAY 

"Honour" examinations. Theoretically there are four 
possible paths open to him : he may elect to take (a) Pass 
Examinations in both Intermediate and Final; (b) Pass 
Examination in the Intermediate and Honours in the 
Final; (c) Honours in both Intermediate and Final; or 
(d) Honours in the Intermediate and Pass in the Final. 
But practically the choice is not entirely free with the 
student. Some colleges which pride themselves on 
scholarship will not admit students to read for anything 
less than Honours in the Final Examination. Rhodes 
Scholars are expected to take Honours in the Final; 
if they do so, they are free to take either Pass or Honours 
in the Intermediate Examination. All Senior Students, 
whether Rhodes Scholars or not, are exempt from the 
Intermediate Examination and are required to take 
Honours in the Final Examination. 

The Intermediate Examination ^includes the following 
examinations : 
- I. Examination in Holy Scripture. 

2. Honour Moderations in Greek and Latin Literature. 

3. Honour Moderations in Mathematics. 

4. Pass Moderations. 

5. Preliminary Examination in Jurisprudence. 

6. Preliminary Examination in Modern History. 
'^ 7. Preliminary Examination in Natural Science, 

8. Preliminary Examination in Agriculture and Forestry. 

Of these the first is compulsory for all candidates for the 
B.A. degree save students with Senior Standing; and, 

1 The term "Intermediate Examination" is not found in the University 
statutes, the official title for the above group of examinations being 
"First Public Examination." The term "Intermediate Examination" is 
employed here to express more clearly to readers not versed in Oxonian 
statutes the nature and purpose of these examinations. 



B.A. DEGREE AND HONOUR SCHOOLS 6i 

with the same exception, all must pass one of the others. 
Numbers 2 and 3 are Honour Examinations; the others 
are Pass Examinations. The student's first duty is to 
select from among numbers 2 to 8 the examination best 
suited to his purposes and to his intended Final 
School. 

By a recent reform, the academic effects of these 
examinations have been equalized; that is to say, having 
passed the examination in Holy Scripture and any one 
of the other forms of Intermediate Examination, the 
student will be admitted to any Final School, Pass or 
Honour.^ Of course certain forms of the Intermediate 
Examination are better suited than others to prepare the 
student for particular Final Schools (e. g., the Preliminary 
Examination in Jurisprudence, for the Jurisprudence 
School) but, so far as University statutes and regulations 
are concerned, all are equally avenues to any Final 
School. This is illustrated by the table in Appendix G, 
showing examinations for the B.A. degree. 

The subjects of the Intermediate Examinations are 
as follows: 

I. Examination in Holy Scripture: Candidates are 
examined in 

1 But see page 58, regarding requirement of Greek or Greek histo.-y 
or literature at Intermediate Examination from certain classes of students 
who may not have offered Greek at Responsions. In the case of Junior 
Students, within these classes, this restriction may be removed by taking 
Greek History or Literature along with their Intermediate Examination 
or by presenting satisfactory proof to the Hebdomadal Council of their 
having acquired a sufficient knowledge of Greek at their previous uni- 
versities. In the case of Senior Students, the point does not arise as thev 
are exempt from the Intermediate Examination. 



62 OXFORD OF TODAY 

(a) Either one of the Synoptic Gospels and the Gospel of 
St. John in the Greek text, or the four Gospels in Eng- 
lish in the Revised Version ; and 

(6) The subject-matter of either the Acts of the Apostles or 
an equivalent portion of the Old or of the New Testa- 
ment (Revised Version). 

Only candidates who object on religious grounds to 
the examination in Holy Scripture are entitled to offer 
the equivalent, which may be either Plato's Apologia, 
Meno, or Pascal's Pensees. 

2. Honour Moderations in Greek and Latin Literature 
("Honour Mods") is an examination of more than aver- 
age difficulty and requires thorough and conscientious 
preparation — the English undergraduate does not ordi- 
narily take this examination until the end of the fifth 
term from matriculation. The candidate (i) must be 
prepared to translate any passage from Homer, Virgil, 
Demosthenes and Cicero; (2) he must choose for special 
study at least three authors from a list of Greek and Latin 
authors and be prepared to answer questions on the text, 
contents, style and literary history; (3) a difficult Latin 
prose composition is set; as are also (4) unprepared 
translations from Greek and Latin, and (5) a general 
paper covering Greek and Latin grammar, literary 
criticism, and classical antiquities. Besides these, candi- 
dates must offer at least one from the following subjects 
treated historically: Greek Drama; Attic Oratory; 
Latin Prose Style; Roman Poetry; Deductive Logic, 
Comparative Philology, or Syntax, of Greek and Latin; 
Greek Sculpture; Homeric Archaeology; Greek Textual 
Criticism; the detailed study of a Greek or Roman Site. 
Papers are set in Greek prose composition, and Greek 



B.A. DEGREE AND HONOUR SCHOOLS 63 

and Latin verse composition; and candidates who desire 
a high class are expected to do at least one of these. There 
is no viva voce examination. Honour Mods is naturally 
intimately connected with the Final Classical School. 

3. Honour Moderations in Mathematics is taken princi- 
pally by those who intend to pursue the Final School in 
Mathematics, Astronomy, Physics or Engineering Sci- 
ence. It includes Algebra, Trigonometry, Pure and 
Analytical Geometry, Differential and Integral Calculus, 
and Elements of Mechanics of Solids and Fluids. There 
is no viva voce examination. 

4. Pass Moderations, formerly an examination in 
Greek, Latin, Mathematics and Logic, now includes three 
groups of subjects, as follows: (i) Latin, Greek; (2) 
English, Greek History or Literature, French, German; 
(3) Mathematics (Algebra and either Geometry or Trigo- 
nometry), Logic, The Elements of Political Economy. 
Candidates must pass at least one subject from each 
group and four subjects in all; of which two must be 
languages other than English. No candidate may offer 
more than one subject from Group (3). The examina- 
tion is both written and viva voce. 

5. The Preliminary Examination in Jurisprudence 
includes: the text of the Institutes of Justinian; outHnes 
of English Constitutional History; Barthelemy, Le Gou- 
vernement de la France; unprepared translation from Latin 
and French prose authors. The examination is both 
written and viva voce, and is generally taken by students 
intending to read for the School of Jurisprudence. 

6. The Preliminary Examination in Modern History 
includes: (i) Outlines of European History either (a) 
from 800 to 1494 or (b) from 1494 to 1789; (2) original 



64 OXFORD OF TODAY 

texts illustrating history (those prescribed require a 
knowledge of Latin, and of Greek, French, German or 
Italian) ; (3) unprepared translation from Latin, Greek, 
French, German and Italian (one ancient and one modern 
language must be offered); (4) Elements of Economic 
Theory. The examination Is both written and viva voce. 
The History Preliminary is the most appropriate avenue 
to the Final School of Modern History, and is well^ 
adapted to that of Philosophy, Politics and Economics. 

7. The Preliminary Examination in Natural Science 
embraces a number of separate preliminary examinations 
in distinct sciences — the candidate being free to select 
that which he intends to pursue in the Final School. The 
subjects in which preliminary examinations are held are: 
Mathematics, Mechanics and Physics, Chemistry, Bi- 
ology (Zoology and Botany), Physics and Chemistry. 
The candidate must pass in two of the foregoing subjects 
or pairs of subjects selected according to detailed require- 
ments explained in the Examination Statutes. The exam- 
ination is written and practical. The Science Preliminary 
is rarely taken except by men who intend to read the 
School of Natural Science. 

8. The Preliminary Examination in the School of 
Agriculture and Forestry embraces certain elementary 
aspects of these subjects and of related sciences, as well 
as a knowledge of French or German. 

What is substantially a ninth form of the Intermediate 
Examination is established by the statutory provision 
that a student who passes the examination in Holy 
Scripture and also Group A (i) (Greek and Latin) or 
Group B (2) and (5) (French and German) of the Final 
Pass School, is not required to pass any other form of 
Intermediate (i. e., First Public) Examination. This pro- 



B.A. DEGREE AND HONOUR SCHOOLS 65 

vision is frequently taken advantage of by candidates 
for the Honour School of Modern Languages. 

Having passed the Intermediate Examination, the 
student for the B.A. then faces the Final Examination, 
Pass or Honour. If he is a Rhodes Scholar he will have 
chosen the latter. 

The Final Examination^ 
A. The Honour Schools 

The Honour Schools are at once indigenous and pecu- 
liar to Oxford. While, as has been noted, they present a 
measure of specialization in undergraduate education, 
their scope is not so cramped as to result in the narrow- 
ness often attendant upon immature research. The 
centralization of the student's effort, and its due intensi- 
fication, is assisted by the methods of examination. 
Once the Intermediate Examination is passed (which, 
except in the case of Honour or Math Mods, is ordi- 
narily done within two or three terms from matricula- 
tion), the University does not again examine the student 
until the very end of his course. But at that time he is 
called upon to render account of his entire stewardship. 
The Final Honour Examination in each School ordinarily 
consists of a number (eight to twelve) of three-hour 
written papers, given morning and afternoon on consecu- 
tive days.2 xhe candidate has thus no time for rest or 
cramming between tests. His knowledge must have 
been carefully acquired and thoroughly mastered to 

1 The Final Examination also bears the statutory title: "Second 
Public Examination". 
- Exclusive of Sunda)'s. 



66 OXFORD OF TODAY 

stand the strain and be at his ready command. A quick 
recollection will not save him. This is all the more true 
since the best examination papers must be rather in the 
nature of essays than mere short answers to questions. 
The papers usually contain about twice as many ques- 
tions as the student is expected to attempt — so that his 
individual preference and special talents may be given 
as great freedom and opportunity as may be compatible 
with a general knowledge of all important parts of his 
subject. He is ordinarily well advised to write a full 
hour on his best question. At some later date which may 
be from a week to six weeks after the completion of the 
written examination, the student is called up for a public 
viva voce examination^ — which may be as brief as ten 
minutes or as long as an hour and a half, at the discretion 
of the examiners. 

The system is administered with an eye to its purpose 
— to bring out and develop originality of thought and 
power of expression. 

Results of examinations are published in the Univer- 
sity and in the London press ; and great value is attached 
to a first or even to a second class. 

In order to be eligible for admission to any of the Final 
Examinations in the Honour Schools, in the Pass School, 
or in the School of Agriculture and Forestry, all of which 
lead to the degree of B.A., the candidate must either (i) 
have passed some form of Intermediate Examination 
as well as the examination in Holy Scripture ; or (2) have 
received Senior Standing; or (3) have passed the exam- 
ination in Holy Scripture and have passed Group A (i) 

1 Except in the Honour Schools of Mathematics, and of Natural 
Science. 



B.A. DEGREE AND HONOUR SCHOOLS 67 

(Greek and Latin) or Group B (2) and (5) (French and 
German) in the Final Pass School (see page 99); or (4) 
have received Honours in some other Final Honour 
School. Furthermore, the candidate, to be eligible for a 
Class, must have entered upon at least the eighth term 
from his matriculation (in the case of Junior and Senior 
Students, the fifth). 

As we have said (Page 61) recent legislation has made 
one form of Intermediate Examination as good as another 
for general purposes of eligibility for Final Examinations, 
but it is nevertheless true that most forms of the Inter- 
mediate Examination are more or less closely related to, 
and particularly suitable as preparation for, certain cor- 
responding Final Schools. Thus the liberality of the 
statutory rule is in practice somewhat limited by the 
logic of facts; and we find the majority of students take 
that form of Intermediate Examination most appro- 
priate as a preliminary to the Final Examination which 
they have in mind ; for example, students of Law usually 
take the Preliminary Examination in Jurisprudence; 
those in Modern History, the Preliminary in Modern 
History; those in Natural Science, the Preliminary in 
that subject; those of the Classics, either Honour or 
Pass Moderation; and those in Mathematics, Honour 
Moderations in Mathematics. 

In the detailed descriptions of the Final Examinations 
of the several Schools which are found on subsequent 
pages, this fact has been recognized by mentioning, in 
the appropriate cases, the requirements of the "corre- 
sponding" (but not required) form of the Intermediate 
Examination. Despite some necessary repetition this 
is desirable in order to present in connection with each 



68 OXFORD OF TODAY 

of the several Final Schools, and in one place, an outline 
of the complete course which is usually followed after 
Responsions by the average undergraduate who has 
elected to read for such School. Our readers should bear 
in mind, however: (i) that the form of Intermediate 
Examination mentioned hereafter in connection with 
any particular Final School is but one of several forms 
open to the student; (2) that all except Senior Students 
must pass the examination in Holy Scripture; and (3) 
that Senior Students are also exempt from the Inter- 
mediate Examination. 

I. Honour School of Literae Humaniores 
Requirements 

The Honour School of Literae Humaniores ofificially 
includes only a Final Honour Examination. But since 
the larger number of undergraduates who read "Greats" 
(as the School is unofficially entitled), in any given year, 
have previously read Honour Moderations in Greek and 
Latin Literature ("Honour Mods"), it is desirable to 
repeat and amplify what has already been said regarding 
this form of Intermediate Examination. 

Honour Moderations in Greek and Latin Literature 

This examination demands of the candidate a thorough 
and critical knowledge of Latin and Greek texts, and a 
thorough command of Latin and Greek prose composi- 
tion. It is the most difficult of the Intermediate Exam- 
inations, and is, indeed, unfairly described as "prelim- 
inary". Undergraduates who have not specialized in 
the classics at some other university spend at least one 



B.A. DEGREE AND HONOUR SCHOOLS 69 

year and half another in preparation for Honour Mods. 
The subjects of the examination include 

1. Translations of passages from Homer, Virgil, Demosthenes, 

and Cicero's orations. 

2. Translations of passages from Greek and Latin authors 

other than the above named. 

3. Portions of Greek and Latin authors specially offered; 

candidates are required to offer three books selected 
from a prescribed list and to answer questions bearing 
upon their contents, style and literary history. 

4. Questions are also set in Greek and Latin grammar, 

literary criticism and antiquities. 

5. Candidates must offer one of the following subjects: 
History of the Greek Drama, with Aristotle's Poetics. 
History of Attic Oratory. 

History of Roman Poetry to the end of the Augustan Age. 

History of Latin Prose Style. 

The Elements of Deductive Logic. 

Comparative Philology as applied to Greek and Latin with 
a special knowledge of Greek or Latin Philology, or the 
Historical and Analytical Syntax of the Greek and Latin 
Languages. 

Outlines of the history of Greek Sculpture. 

Homeric Archaeology. 

The elements of either Greek or Latin textual criticism. 

The detailed study of a Greek or Roman Site. 

6. Latin Prose Composition. 

Papers are also set in Greek Prose Composition, and in 
Greek and Latin Verse Composition; candidates who 
omit either or both of these papers are strongly recom- 
mended to offer additional work under other parts of 
the examination. 

In the assignment of Honours account is taken of the 
total amount of work offered by the candidate and of the 
average of excellence attained by his papers as a whole. 



70 OXFORD OF TODAY 

The usual route to the Final Honour School of Literae 
Humaniores is via Honour Mods. Nevertheless Honour 
Mods is not a prerequisite. Students will be admitted to 
the Final Examination provided they have passed some 
other form of Intermediate Examination and in any 
case the examination in Holy Scripture (see page 60), 
or have obtained Senior Standing, or have obtained 
Honours in some other Final Honour School. 

Final Examination 

The Final Examination in Greats includes both stated 
(or required) and special (or optional) subjects, as follows: 

Stated Subjects 

1. The Greek and Latin Languages; candidates are expected 

to translate passages from the Greek and Latin texts 
offered by them for the examination, and to translate 
passages from other such texts not specially offered. 
English passages are set for translation into Greek and 
Latin prose ; candidates are required to take one of these 
compositions and recommended to take both. 

2. The Histories of Ancient Greece and Rome; all candidates 

are required to offer a period of Greek and a period of 
Roman History, selected from prescribed lists, and 
studied with reference to prescribed texts of classical 
historians; candidates are expected to have a knowledge 
of Classical Geography and Antiquities and of the 
General History of Greece and of Rome. 

3. Philosophy; candidates are required to offer one book of 

Plato and one of Aristotle from a prescribed list, and in 

addition are examined in: 
Logic, including questions in Metaphysics and Psychology; 
Moral Philosophy; and 



B.A. DEGREE AND HONOUR SCHOOLS 71 

Political Philosophy, including the outlines of Political 
Economy. 

Candidates are also expected to have a knowledge of the His- 
tory of Philosophy. 

Special Subjects 

It is not necessary for the attainment of the highest honours 
that a Special Subject should be offered; but great 
weight is attached to excellence in a Special Subject. 
Candidates are permitted to offer one Special Subject 
selected from a prescribed list embracing three general 
classes: Greek and Latin Languages; Ancient History; 
Philosophy. 

For the purposes of the Final Examination it should be 
noted that the study of the Greek and Latin Languages is 
taken to include the minute critical study of authors or 
portions of authors offered, the history of ancient 
literature, and comparative philology; the study of the 
histories of Ancient Greece and of Rome is taken to 
include classical archaeology and art and the law of 
Greece and of Rome. 

Explanatory Note 

In the undergraduate side of American universities the 
classics are taught and studied as one element in a "liberal 
arts" course. At Oxford they are the foundation of an 
entire School, and what is more, this School, although now 
smaller in numbers than one or two other more "modern" 
or "practical" Schools, is justly the most famous in the 
University. The strenuous combination — Honour Mods 
and Greats — is generally admitted to present the best 
mental training which the University affords. With all 



72 OXFORD OF TODAY 

due respect to Cambridge and to the universities of 
America and the British dominions it is probably the 
best undergraduate course in the classics, ancient history, 
and ancient and modern philosophy, to be found in tht 
Anglo-Saxon world. 

It is indeed misleading to speak of Greats as a "classi- 
cal" School. It is not a mere Greek and Latin School as 
that term might indicate. Success in the School requires 
a thorough mastery of both languages and a familiarity 
with many texts, to be sure; but after all, the languages 
and the texts serve but as the approach to the broader 
purpose of Greats, namely, to secure to the student a 
real knowledge of the two greatest civilizations of 
history: the Greek and the Roman. 

The three years allowed to the Rhodes Scholar are 
rather too short to do both Honour Mods and Greats 
satisfactorily unless a considerable portion of the ground 
has been previously covered. The English undergradu- 
ates almost invariably spend four years; the best of 
them have in their preparatory schools read much more 
Latin and Greek than the ordinary American student in 
school and university combined, and because of their 
early training in prose and verse composition they have 
as well a more direct command over their knowledge. 
If, however, Honour Mods is not attempted. Greats 
can be creditably done in three years, or even in two. 

Honour Mods contains something like the American 
courses in Greek and Latin literature in the detailed 
study of certain prescribed texts; it includes, however, 
a far wider range of supplementary reading both in the 
ancient authors and in modern literary and textual criti- 
cism bearing on them. A man who has done well in 



B.A. DEGREE AND HONOUR SCHOOLS 73 

Honour Mods has an intelligent acquaintance with the 
whole field of Greek and Latin literature, and a real 
command of the essentials of grammar and prose com- 
position. 

Greats consists especially of the careful study of one 
important period in Greek history, one in Roman history, 
and of a general review of ethical, political and specula- 
tive philosophy. The student has the help not only of 
lecturers but also of tutorial conferences during which 
his tutors correct and criticize his essays. In general, 
however, he is trained to study for himself, and to develop 
a mature attitude toward his work. 

In both the historical periods the teaching proceeds 
from an adequate reading of the ancient sources in the 
original, and the student follows the critical methods of 
the modern historian. Similarly the teaching in philoso- 
phy rests less on modern manuals than on a genetic study 
of original thought, ranging from Plato and Aristotle 
through Descartes, Hobbes, Kant, and others, to Bergson 
and Graham Wallas. In this side of the work particu- 
larly there is much scope for individual emphasis. The 
examination papers contain about a dozen questions of 
which not more than half are to be answered by each 
student, and these range from technical disputes as to 
the meaning of passages from Plato, to pragmatism and 
the single-tax. Thus the instruction changes constantly 
in order that due cognizance may be taken of current 
movements in speculative thought and community life. 

The true value of Honour Mods and Greats for the 
student who is preparing for an active life lies not in any 
particular body of facts memorized. The work involved 
removes juvenile errors and supplies a method of 



74 OXFORD OF TODAY 

approach to every major activity of the human mind 
outside of mathematics and the physical sciences. 
Although the Oxford student of Greats touches modern 
life at fewer of the obvious points than does the Ameri- 
can "liberal arts" undergraduate, the matters which he 
correlates with modern life are fundamental, and their 
correlation is the more profitable for its very difficulty. 

2. Honour School of Mathematics 

Requirements 

'The Honour School of Mathematics consists of a Final 
Honour Examination leading to the degree of B.A. But 
for practical purposes the School is really a further 
advance by the student from the almost necessary 
preliminary examination known as Honour Moderations 
in Mathematics ("Math Mods").^ It is generally true 
that, unless a student has specialized in Mathematics 
at some university prior to coming to Oxford, his only 
road to success in the Final School is through the pre- 
paratory path of Math Mods. 

The subjects covered by the examination in Math 
Mods are as follows: 

1. Algebra; Theory of Equations; Plane and Spherical 

Trigonometry. (No questions are set on the theory of 
Infinite Products, or on theorems of Uniform Conver- 
gency; but simple questions involving the principles of 
the theory of Uniform Convergency are set.) 

2. Pure Geometry; Analytical Geometry of two dimensions, 

excluding the theory of Invariants and Covariants of 

1 For other avenues to the Final Examination see page 59, et seq. 



B.A. DEGREE AND HONOUR SCHOOLS 75 

two Conies; Analytical Geometry of three dimensions as 
far as the simpler properties of Surfaces of the Second 
Order, excluding the theory of Confocal Surfaces. 

3. Differential and Integral Calculus, with simple applica- 

tions to Plane and Solid Geometry; Differential Equa- 
tions. 

4. The Elements of the Statics of Solids and Fluids; the 

Elements of the Dynamics of Particles, and of Rigid 
Bodies moving in two dimensions. 

For the Final Honour Examination in Mathematics 
the subjects, beginning with the year 1923-24, will be 
six papers on the subjects listed in Schedule A below and 
special subjects selected by the candidate from the list 
in Schedule B. No candidate can take a First Class unless 
he satisfies the examiners in at least one special subject, 
while no candidate may offer more than two special 
subjects. 

SCHEDULE A 

Pure Mathematics 

Algebra: Theory of Numbers; Determinants; Theory of Equations; 
Quantics. 

Analysis: Theory of Convergence; Differential Calculus; Integral 
Calculus; Differential Equations; Calculus of Variations; Theory of 
Functions. 

Geometry: Plane, Solid. 

Mixed Mathematics 

Statics; Attractions; Particle Dynamics; Rigid Dynamics; Hydro- 
statics. 

Optics. 

Astronomy: Uniform Circular Motion and Inequalities thereof; 
The Sphere and its Plane Projections; Corrections of Observed Positions. 



76 OXFORD OF TODAY 



SCHEDULE B 

1. Theory of Numbers. lo. Higher Dynamics, Hydro- 

2. Algebraic Forms. dynamics. Dynamical The- 

3. Theory of Groups. ory of Sound. 

4. Synthetic Geometry. 11. Elasticity. 

5. Algebraic Geometry. 12. Electricity and Magnetism. 

6. Differential Geometry. 13. Geometrical and Physical 
/. Theory of Functions. Optics. 

8. Elliptic Functions. 14. Thermodynamics, Radiation, 

9. Differential Equations. Dynamical Theory of Gases. 

The first Examination under the above Regulations 
will be held in Trinity Term, 1924. 



Explanatory Note 

The Honour School, with Math Mods, offers three 
years of specialized work in Mathematics, with some 
Mechanics and Physics. The work is substantially 
equivalent to the advanced undergraduate and early 
graduate courses at an American university; and will 
ordinarily entitle the successful student to from one to 
two years' credit towards an American Ph.D. in this 
subject. The American student going to Oxford to 
study Mathematics with only the work for an American 
Bachelor's degree to his credit will do well to begin his 
Oxford study with Math Mods. Even the holder of an 
American Master's degree will ordinarily be well advised 
to work first for the Final Honour Examination. More 
advanced American students may be qualified to under- 
take at once research work with a view to the advanced 
degree of B.Sc. or D.Phil. 



B.A. DEGREE AND HONOUR SCHOOLS 77 

3. Honour School of Natural Science 
Requirements 

In the Honour School of Natural Science falls most of 
the undergraduate work offered by the University in 
Physics, Chemistry, Animal Physiology, Zoology, Bot- 
any, Geology, Astronomy, and Engineering Science; and 
also in Crystallography, Mineralogy, and Anthropology. 

In preparation for the Final Examination in this 
School, the majority of undergraduates read first for 
the Preliminary Examination in Natural Science, in 
preference to other forms of the Intermediate Examina- 
tion (see page 59 et seq.)- Senior Students, being exempt 
from the Intermediate Examination, may begin reading 
for the Final Examination immediately on coming into 
residence. 

The Preliminary Examination includes examinations 
in the following subjects: Mathematics; Mechanics and 
Physics; Chemistry; Biology (Zoology and Botany); 
Physics and Chemistry. Candidates are required to 
ofifer two of these subjects or pairs of subjects; selected 
according to the detailed requirements explained in the 
Examination Statutes. The requirements of the Pre- 
liminary Examination in these various subjects cannot be 
well summarized ; reference should be made to the current 
volume of Examination Statutes. 

For the Final Examination each candidate must offer 
one of the following subjects (each of which is, practically 
speaking, an Honour School in itself) : Physics, Chem- 
istry, Animal Physiology, Zoology, Botany, Geology, 
Astronomy, and Engineering Science. He may also 



78 OXFORD OF TODAY 

offer any one or more of the following supplemental sub- 
jects: Crystallography, Mineralogy, and Anthropology. 
The Final Examination in each subject is written and 
practical. There is no oral except for Chemistry, Part 
II. The subjects of examination in the several "Schools" 
included in the Final School are as follows: 

1. In Physics: 

Properties of Matter, Sound, Heat, Light, Electricity and 
Magnetism, Conduction of Electricity through Gases 
and Radio-activity. 

2. In Chemistry: 

The Examination in Chemistry consists of two parts. 
Part I includes the following prescribed subjects: 

Inorganic Chemistry. 

Organic Chemistry. 

General and Physical Chemistry. 
Part II consists of records of experimental investigations 

carried out under professorial supervision. 
Candidates are also permitted to offer a special subject 

connected with Chemistry, subject to the approval of 

the Board of the Faculty. 

3. In Animal Physiology: 

Physiology of man and the higher mammals, with a detailed 
knowledge of the structure of animal cells, tissues and 
organs, and a knowledge of human anatomy, and embry- 
ology, and of the physiology of other types of animals. 

4. In Zoology: 

Comparative Anatomy, Embryology and Cytology; the 
Distribution of animals in space and time; Animal Evo- 
lution, including the study of the adaptation of animals 
to their surroundings, and the phenomena of Variation, 
Heredity, and Sex; the system of classification of ani- 
mals into classes and orders. 



B.A. DEGREE AND HONOUR SCHOOLS 79 

Candidates may offer a Special Subject, with the approval 
of the Professor of Zoology. 

5. In Botany: 

General Morphology and Histology; Special Morphology; 

Taxonomy and Distribution; Physiology. 
Candidates may offer a Special Subject, if approved by the 

Board of the Faculty. 

6. In Geology: 

Geology, including the science of the Earth, exclusive of 
its living inhabitants, and including its morphology, 
physiology, distribution, and aetiology. 

Palaeontology. 

7. In Astronomy: 

Mathematical Theories; Instruments and Observations; 
the Heavenly Bodies; General History of Astronomy. 

8. In Engineering Science: 

Mathematics, Physics, Applied Mechanics, Strength of 
Materials, Surveying, Applied Chemistry, Structural 
Design, Heat and Heat Engines, Electrical Engineering. 
Every candidate is required to show a special knowledge 
of one of the last three of these subjects; and a knowledge 
of the fundamental principles of the other eight subjects. 

Candidates may offer as a special subject either Engineering 
Chemistry and Metallurgy, or Geology. 

9. In Crystallography: 

Geometrical, Physical and Chemical Crystallography. 

10. In Mineralogy: 

The principles of Crystallography as applied to minerals, 
and a detailed knowledge of the species included in a 
prescribed list; also Practical Mineralogy. 



8o OXFORD OF TODAY 

II. In Anthropology: 

Comparative Anatomy of Races; Anthropometry; Crani- 
ometry; Morphology of the members of the group 
Anthropomorpha other than Man; Physical classifica- 
tions of Races; Prehistoric Archaeology; Rudiments of 
Comparative Philology; Development of Culture. 

Explanatory Note 

Although Oxford has not won Its fame in Natural 
Science, it would be quite wrong to conclude that the 
University is without adequate facilities in this great 
department. The contrary is the case. Although no 
effort has been made to create a School which may 
attract great numbers of Science students, still a thor- 
oughly sound and well-equipped School has been devel- 
oped, adequate for present numbers, and headed by 
men of high standing in the scientific world. 

The American student will note at once that the degree 
given in this School is the B.A., although the work is 
exclusively Science rather than Arts. The B.Sc. degree 
(as is explained fully in Chapter VI) is purely a post- 
graduate degree for research students in Science. In 
this School, as in others, the degree of specialization 
afforded the student is such as to make it advisable for 
American students who come to Oxford holding only an 
American bachelor's degree to do first the work of the 
School and take the Oxford B.A. They will find no time 
wasted in repetition. And if they are in position to 
take the Final Examination and B.A. degree at the end 
of a second year, the third year can well be applied to 
research for the B.Sc. There is no reason why both 
degrees cannot be taken by the ambitious student in 
three years. 



B.A. DEGREE AND HONOUR SCHOOLS 8i 

For students who have begun graduate work in 
America or elsewhere, the new research degree of D.Phil., 
as well as the B.Sc, is now open. 

Medicine 

In connection with the School of Natural Science, and 
for the particular benefit of American students, a few 
words of explanation are needed in regard to the work 
which can be done at Oxford in Medicine. At first glance, 
the American medical student may be dismayed — be- 
cause he will have discovered that Oxford's first purely 
medical degree, the B.M., can be obtained only after the 
Oxford B.A. has been taken (which itself requires two or 
three years), and then only after two or three years in 
clinical work. The B.M. is absolutely out of the question 
for the American who is to spend but three years in 
Oxford. 

Even so there is open to the medical student at Oxford 
valuable work along several essential lines, depending as 
to nature upon his stage of advancement. And while the 
total length of his medical course, at home and abroad, 
will probably have been extended by a year, the student 
will have gained immeasurably more than a year's growth 
by coming to Oxford; what might seem a sacrifice of 
time will prove a gain in experience. 

Under the inspiring leadership of the late Sir William 
Osier medical work at Oxford has advanced rapidly to a 
high standard. The excellent experimental and instruc- 
tional work in physiology under Professor Sherrington 
has not been duplicated as yet in any other school. 
Instruction in anatomy, bacteriology, and pathology is 
equal to that offered anywhere. And the pre-medical 



82 OXFORD OF TODAY 

courses in physics, biology, and chemistry, compare 
favorably with those of the best American schools. 

In addition to the work at Oxford, many valuable 
opportunities are open to the student during the vaca- 
tions to study and visit hospitals and clinics in London, 
Edinburgh, Dublin, and on the Continent. 

The best plan for the American medical student who 
will have three years at Oxford is to work for some one or 
more of the degrees which are open to him: the B.A. (in 
the School of Natural Science) ; the B.Sc. ; or the D.Phil., 
in exceptional cases. In securing a degree he will have 
had the incentive of a definite objective and will carry 
home recognized evidence of work accomplished. 

The following possible courses are open to the student, 
varying with his progress in his pre-Oxford studies: 

1. The student who is just beginning his scientific 
work may take the B.A. degree in chemistry or zoology, 
complete all the requirements in the fundamental Sci- 
ences, and return to America for his three or four years 
of strictly medical work. This of course is the very low- 
est accomplishment; and American students who have 
already received a degree at home will ordinarily do 
much more. 

2. The student who has completed some of his pre- 
medical work, but who may not be able to obtain Senior 
Standing, should work for the B.A. degree in physiology. 
This course will include the work of the first one and one- 
half to two years in American medical schools, and the 
student ought to be able to graduate from such a school 
in two years after his return. 

3. The student who receives Senior Standing, and who 
has completed in America the minimum pre-medical 



B.A. DEGREE AND HONOUR SCHOOLS 83 

requirements in biology, physics, and chemistry, may 
immediately begin work on the courses in histology, 
physiological chemistry, and physiology, taking the 
B.A. in physiology in two years. At the same time he 
should begin his dissections of the human body, which 
may be completed in twelve to eighteen months. His 
third year may be spent (a) in special research work in 
bacteriology and pathology, or in physiology, or in 
pharmacology, and if sufficiently industrious he may 
secure the degree of B.Sc; or (b) in regular classes in 
these subjects supplemented by clinical work at the Rad- 
cliffe Infirmary and County Hospital. Such a course will 
admit the student to the third year class at Johns Hop- 
kins Medical School certainly, and in some instances and 
in certain schools to the fourth year class. 

4. For the student who has acquired sufficient pre- 
liminary training, or already completed some medical 
work in America, there is the possibility of entering at 
once upon extensive and ambitious research work leading 
to the degrees of B.Sc. or D.Phil, or both.^ 

4. Honour School of Jurisprudence 
Requirements 
In preparation for the Final Examination in the 
Honour School of Jurisprudence, the majority of under- 
graduates read for the Preliminary Examination in that 
subject, in preference to other forms of the Intermediate 
Examination (see page 59, et seq.). Senior Students, 
being exempt from the Intermediate Examination, may 
begin reading for the Final Examination immediately on 
coming into residence. 

1 A Dean of the Medical School has recently been appointed who will 
advise intending students. 



84 OXFORD OF TODAY 

The Preliminary Examination includes: 

1. The text of the Institutes of Justinian. 

2. Outlines of English Constitutional Histor>^ 

3. Barthelemy, Le Gouvernement de la France. 

4. Unprepared translation from Latin and French prose 

authors. 

The Final Honour Examination includes: 

1. General Jurisprudence and the Theory of Legislation. 

2. Roman Law, including: 

(a) The outlines of Roman Law till the death of Justin- 
ian studied historically in connexion with the text of 
the Institutes of Gaius. 

(&) Digest XVIII. I, de Contrahenda Emptione (optional, 
but candidates who do not ofifer it cannot be placed 
in the first class). 

3. English Law, including 

(c) Real Property. 

{b) Contracts. 

(c) Torts. 

{d) Constitutional Law and Legal History. 

4. International Law. 

5. Roman-Dutch Law (optional; may be offered as an alterna- 

tive to Real Property). 

Explanatory Note 

The Preliminary Examination in the School of Juris- 
prudence ("Law Prelim" as it is more simply and gener- 
ally known) needs no discussion. Students who receive 
Senior Standing are not required to take it; by others it 
is usually passed within one or two terms. 

The Final JJonour Examination is the immediate ob- 



B.A. DEGREE AND HONOUR SCHOOLS 85 

jective of by far the majority of undergraduates reading 
law at Oxford; and is usually taken at the end of the 
third year from matriculation, or even at the end of the 
second year by Junior or Senior Students. While less 
technical and less severe than the examination for the 
B.C.L. degree (and therefore perhaps slightly less 
immediately practical for the student who intends to 
practise after leaving the University) , the Final Honour 
Examination requires of the successful candidate a firm 
grasp of the fundamental principles of the chief branches 
of two great legal systems — the English and the Roman. ^ 
The Final Honour School does not aim to be and is not a 
professional law school, designed to thrust out into the 
world sharp young lawyers who will know by heart the 
proper form of a bill of complaint. At Oxford, Juris- 
prudence is one of the several undergraduate schools; 
it is studied and taught as one of the great branches of 
human knowledge. The spirit of this school is scientific, 
or academic, if you will, rather than professional. The 
examiners who sit in judgment upon the candidates gen- 
erally value a mastery of principles, with an ability to 
express and criticize, higher than a retentive memory 
for local rules or casual decisions. 

The Oxford law student will not find himself nurtured 
in the "case system" which has attained such a reputation 
in America. The method of study is that loose combina- 
tion of private reading, tutorial conference, essay, and 
more or less optional lecture which is characteristic of 
Oxford. Nevertheless the opinion may be ventured that 
the difference in method does not work to the disad- 

' For the Roman Law part of the Final Examination, the student 
must be able to read the Institutes of Gaius and of Justinian in Latin. 



86 OXFORD OF TODAY 

vantage of the Oxford student. At any rate, such is the 
view often expressed by students who have tried both. 
It is undoubtedly true that the Oxford student is in an 
environment much more calculated to encourage his indi- 
viduality and in a school in which the law is regarded 
from a more scientific, historical and objective point of 
view, than is his fellow in America. 

In addition to acquiring a training not unsuited for 
practice in America, the Oxford law student has the 
opportunity of qualifying for admission to the English 
Bar. The requirements for admission to the Bar include 
the keeping of twelve terms (three academic years) at 
one of the Inns of Court in London, the passing of the Bar 
Examination, and the payment of certain fees. As 
"keeping a term" at an Inn of Court merely means eating 
dinner at the Inn on three days during term, an Oxford 
undergraduate can easily keep his Inn terms during his 
residence at the University. And the Bar Examination 
offers little difficulty to one prepared to take the Oxford 
B.A. in Jurisprudence. 

5. Honour School of Modern History 
Requirements 

In preparation for the Final Examination in the Hon- 
our School of Modern History, the majority of under- 
graduates read first for the Preliminary Examination 
in this subject, in preference to other forms of the Inter- 
mediate Examination (see page 59, et seq.). Senior 
Students, being exempt from the Intermediate Examina- 
tion, may begin reading for the Final Examination im- 
mediately on coming into residence. 



B.A. DEGREE AND HONOUR SCHOOLS 87 

The Preliminary Examination, as its name implies, is 
a preliminary test; it is usually passed without difficulty 
within two or three terms from matriculation, or even 
after one term, if the student is already more or less 
familiar with its subjects. This examination includes 
papers in the following: 

1. Outlines of European History from 800 A.D. to 1494 A.D., 

or from 1494 A.D. to 1789 A.D. 

2. Original Prescribed Texts in Latin, Greek or French. 

3. Unprepared Translation from Latin, Greek, French, 

German and Italian; every candidate must satisfy the 
examiners in at least one ancient and one modern 
language of this group. 

4. Elements of Economic Theory. 

The Final Examination embraces papers in the follow- 
ing subjects: 

1. The History of England, both constitutional and political. 

2. A Period of General History, to be selected by the candi- 

date from a prescribed list of some eight periods begin- 
ning with 285 A.D. and covering from one to three 
centuries each. 

3. Political Science, and Economic History with Economic 

Theory; but candidates who do not aim at a first or 
second class may omit either one of these subjects. 

4. Unprepared Translation from French, German, Italian 

and Spanish; (optional). Candidates may offer one or 
more of these languages and credit will be given for 
accurate translation. 

5. A Special Historical Subject, selected by the candidate 

from a prescribed list, and studied with reference to the 



88 OXFORD OF TODAY 

original authorities; the Special Subject is required 
only of candidates who aim at a first or second class. 

6. In addition, every candidate is required to have a knowl- 
edge of Constitutional Law, and of Political and De- 
scriptive Geography, although no separate paper is set 
in these subjects. 

Candidates are allowed to ofifer a thesis on some question 
either in English History or in the Special Historical 
Subject offered in the Examination; the thesis being in 
addition to, and not excusing the candidate from, the 
subjects of the Examination. 

Explanatory Note 

The Honour School of Modern History commends it- 
self especially to three types of students: To the 
specialists in history, political science or government; 
to those who desire what is perhaps the best general edu- 
cation, outside the classical school, which Oxford affords; 
to those who intend later to study law, or some political 
subject. Of all candidates, the History School requires 
eventually a thorough knowledge of English history 
(political, constitutional and economic), and of one period 
of general European history. All are required also to have 
an elementary knowledge of political science, studied with 
reference to a few texts, and a knowledge of the elements 
of political economy. All who hope to secure a first or 
second class must offer in addition a Special Subject. 

Normally the work required is covered in from two to 
three years. Of this time little need usually be devoted 
to the language, one term suffices for political science, 
and the remainder is about equally divided between the 
other subjects. Thus that part of the work which is 



B.A. DEGREE AND HONOUR SCHOOLS 89 

subject to the option of the student is most emphasized; 
and the student is permitted to lay stress upon that 
field or aspect which interests him most, provided he 
is able to satisfy a minimum requirement in the other 
prescribed subjects. The examiners scarcely expect an 
equally good knowledge of all subjects, even from 
the best students; but act generally upon the principle 
of giving a candidate credit for what he knows, rather 
than that of trying to ascertain of what he may be 
ignorant. 

There is a wide choice of periods of general history, 
of which the latest — from 1789 to 1878 — is at present the 
most popular. The special subjects are of two general 
sorts: the purely historical (as The Age of Dante or Rich- 
ard II), and the political (as International Relations, 
Representative Government, or Banking and Currency). 

During the years devoted to the History School, the 
student learns to pick his way through big books and 
little books, articles and lectures, gossip with fellow stu- 
dents and converse with specialists, — grasping the truth 
where he may find it and developing a sense of proportion 
and of selection. He is guided throughout by his tutor, 
in every case a competent man and often a distinguished 
specialist. 

6. Honour School of Theology 

Requirements 

The degree of B.A. in Theology is open to all students 
without distinction as to creed. The degree of B.D., also 
offered by the University, is an advanced or post-gradu- 
ate degree, and is discussed on page 113. 



90 OXFORD OF TODAY 

The subjects of the Final Examination are as follows:^ 

1. The Holy Scriptures, including the History, Religion and 

Literature of Israel from Moses to Christ, and the 
History, Theology and Literature of the New Testa- 
ment. The books of the New Testament are studied in 
the Greek Text. 

2. Dogmatic and Symbolic Theology. 

3. Ecclesiastical History and the Fathers. 

4. The Hebrew of the Old Testament. 

5. The Philosophy of Religion. 

Of the foregoing five subjects all candidates are required 
to offer I, together with either 2 or 3. All candidates 
who offer more than two of these five subjects will be 
required to offer 2. 

6. Liturgies. 

7. Sacred Criticism and the Archaeology of the Old and New 

Testaments. 

8. English Ecclesiastical History to 1820, together with a 

prescribed special period to be read with original au- 
thorities. 

These last three subjects may be offered only by candi- 
dates who offer three out of the first five subjects. 

Any candidate who offers three of the first five subjects 
may offer in addition to or instead of any other of the 
above list of subjects a Special Subject selected from a 
prescribed list. A Special Subject is not necessary for the 
attainment of the highest Honours; but great weight 
will be attached to excellence in a Special Subject. 

^ The regulations for the Honour School of Theology are about to be 
altered. Reference should be made to the latest edition of the Examina- 
tion Statutes. Under the new Regulations every candidate will be re- 
quired to offer, as a minimum, Subject i, and two of the "Subjects 2, 3, 4, 5. 



B.A. DEGREE AND HONOUR SCHOOLS 91 

Explanatory Note 

The Honour School of Theology of Oxford consists 
primarily of a very thorough study of historical Chris- 
tianity. Beginning with the nomadic Hebrew tribes it 
traces the rise of national consciousness, the formation 
of the kingdom, the vicissitudes of the nation's history 
ending in the destruction of the small power by the ex- 
panding Babylonian Empire It follows the experiences 
of the Jews during their centuries of dependence, their 
dreams of liberation, their high hopes when Alexander 
overthrew their ancient enemies and made all western 
Asia Greek, their bitter disappointment during the sub- 
sequent years when Seleucids and Ptolemies battled 
throughout Palestine for the possession of the country, 
the fierce Maccabean revolts, and the coming of the 
Romans. It follows throughout this study the develop- 
ment of religious ideals from the earliest animism of the 
Semites to the idealism of the Prophets, the influence of 
the more powerful civilizations with which they then 
came into contact, and the amalgamation of their reli- 
gious beliefs with their national aspirations. With this 
as a background it requires a study of the life of Christ, 
and a critical examination of our several sources of 
information, in the effort to find out and understand the 
incidents of that life. His relation to the Jewish leaders, 
to those who accepted Him as the expected Messiah, and 
to the Roman authorities, and finally the story of His 
death and resurrection. It traces the rise of the Christian 
Church, the work of the Apostles, the origin of its insti- 
tutions and the development of its doctrine. The course 
ends with the Council of Chalcedon in 451 when polity 



92 OXFORD OF TODAY 

and doctrine had been developed to the form which they 
maintained for centuries. 

This is the heart of the School. Hebrew, Church His- 
tory, Philosophy of Religion and any approved Special 
Subject may also be offered. 

The special fitness of Oxford for this sort of training 
ought to be recognized. Theology has always been one 
of her most important Schools. Apart from advantages 
of prestige and influence, this means that every college 
has its Theology tutor. Furthermore, the two most 
important divisions of Theology are the two fields to 
which Oxford has always given most attention. Chris- 
tianity comes to us from the Greek and Roman world; 
from the classical field in which Oxford holds a leading 
place. On the other hand, its creed carries one into the 
ultimate problems of philosophy; here again is Oxford's 
strength. Finally, the tutorial system is a most valuable 
method of instruction for the young theological student 
in the process of thinking out and developing his beliefs. 

In addition to the University School of Theology, men- 
tion should be made of Mansfield College (Congrega- 
tionalist), and Manchester College (undenominational), 
— both institutions for theological students and affiliated 
with the Universitv. 

V 

7. Honour School of Oriental Studies 

In the Honour School of Oriental Studies are grouped 
the examinations in Sanskrit, Arabic, Hebrew, Persian 
and Egyptian, leading to the degree of B.A. The candi- 
date enrolled in this School must offer one of these five 
subjects. The examination in each subject includes 



B.A. DEGREE AND HONOUR SCHOOLS 93 

prescribed texts, the history of the literature and of the 
civilization or principal countries concerned, other closely 
afifiliated languages, and a special subject. The details 
as to each subject do not admit of adequate summariza- 
tion; students interested in this School should refer 
directly to the Examination Statutes published by the 
University. 

8. Honour School of English Language 
AND Literature 

Requirements 

The Final Examination in the Honour School of 
English Language and Literature includes papers in the 
following subjects, of which candidates are expected to 
offer nine: 

1. Gothic and Germanic Philology. 

2. Old English Philology-. 

3. Middle English Philology. 

4. The History of the English Language, with special refer- 

ence to the period since Chaucer. 

5. (a) Old English texts. 
(6) Old English. 

6. (a) Middle English texts. 
(6) Middle English. 

7. Outlines of the History of the English Language, espe- 

cially as exhibited in English Literature. 

8. Shakespeare and Milton. 

9. Old and Middle English Literature. 

10. Chaucer and his contemporaries. 

1 1 . The fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. 

12. The age of Shakespeare. 

13. The seventeenth century. 



94 OXFORD OF TODAY 

14. The eighteenth century. 

15. The nineteenth century. 
Candidates may oflfer 

Either (i) Papers 1-4, 5 (a), 6 (a), 8, and any two of Papers 

9-15- 
Or (2) Papers 5 (&), 6 (b), 7, 8, 10, 12, and any three of 

Papers li, 13, 14, 15. 
Or (3) Papers 4, 5 (a), 6 (o), 8, and any two of Papers I-3, 

and any three of Papers 9-15. 

In Papers 10-15, candidates will be expected to show such 
knowledge of the history, especially the Social History, of 
England, as is necessary for the profitable study of the authors 
and periods they offer. 

Candidates may also offer a Special Subject, selected from 
a prescribed list or a dissertation on some subject in English 
Language or Literature approved by the Board of the Faculty 
of Mediaeval and Modern Languages and Literature. Neither 
Special Subject nor Dissertation is necessary for the attain- 
ment of the highest Honours. 

Explanatory Note 

The study of English at Oxford is remarkable for its 
breadth. The Honours course embraces a wide range 
from philology and linguistic study at one extreme, to 
historical and literary study at the other. The student 
who reads this School acquires not a training in some 
narrow aspect of the general subject, but rather a general 
introduction to whatever there is that is lasting in the 
literary accomplishment of the Anglo-Saxon race. 

For such study, Oxford, with its precious store of tradi- 
tion and memories, is in itself an inspiration and a 
challenge. No man, least of all an American, can go 



B.A. DEGREE AND HONOUR SCHOOLS 95 

there without feeling the longing to learn something of 
the precious things of which Oxford is the guardian, so 
many of which are our heritage, no less than England's. 
The study of English is concerned with what is perhaps 
the most important part of this heritage. It involves the 
study of the whole field of English Literature, with its 
living records of what men have done and thought and 
dreamed. At Oxford one has leisure for such reading, 
and something that is yet more rare, the personal 
guidance in it that is offered by the tutorial system. 

For the advanced student, who has begun to specialize 
in English at an American university, there are special 
advantages: The Bodleian Library with its many won- 
derful treasures is available to him. There is also the 
Clarendon Press, with all the attendant industry of 
scholarly book-making and printing. Further, the home 
of the New English Dictionary is at Oxford. All these 
draw together a growing body of scholars interested in 
English; and their number is increased by the presence 
of men like Gilbert Murray and C. H. Firth, whose inter- 
ests run over from their special fields of classics and his- 
tory into English; of men of letters like Robert Bridges 
and John Masefield, who live near Oxford and take some 
part in the life of the university; and of other contem- 
porary writers like Shaw and Chesterton, who come occa- 
sionally to Oxford as lecturers. These things all go to 
create an atmosphere which makes the student think of 
English as a living thing, real and broad as life itself. 

For an American who elects English as an undergradu- 
ate in the university, the wisest course is to read for the 
Honour School, leading to the B.A. degree. Normally 
this can be completed in two years. In this work the 



96 OXFORD OF TODAY 

student receives the full benefit of the Oxford system, 
with its combination of individual effort on the part of 
the student and expert guidance and criticism by the 
tutor. Even for the student who comes to Oxford for 
advanced work, there is little danger of repeating in this 
School anything which he has really mastered ; the tutor 
will take account of his previous accomplishment, and 
the range of subjects in the Final Examination is so 
broad as to ensure a profitable extension of his studies. 
Once the Final School has been completed, the advanced 
student may have time enough left to qualify for the 
B.Litt. at the end of his third year; and the training and 
experience of the two previous years will probably have 
saved him much of the wasted time and effort which 
accompany unguided research. Working for the D.Phil, 
can be recommended only to students who have taken the 
B.Litt. or who have had some good preliminary graduate 
school training. 

9. Honour School of Modern Languages 
Requirements 

The Honour School of Modern Languages is divided 
into six parts, each part for practical purposes constitut- 
ing a School ; as follows: French, German, Italian, Spanish, 
Russian, and Mediaeval and Modern Greek. No candi- 
date for the degree of B.A. in this School is required to 
offer more than one language. 

•Students of this School who have to take some form 
of Intermediate Examination commonly select for this 
purpose the French and German subjects of the Final 
Pass School (Group B (2) and (5) ). 



B.A. DEGREE AND HONOUR SCHOOLS 97 

The Final Examination in each language embraces the 
following subjects: 

1. The language as spoken and written at the present day; 

each candidate is required to show a competent 
knowledge of this, and special recognition is given for 
proficiency in the colloquial use of the language. 

2. Prescribed works or portions of works written in the 

language. 

3. The history of the language. 

4. The history of its literature. 

5. The history, especially the social history, of the corre- 

sponding country or countries of Europe. 

6. A special subject of language or literature, selected by the 

student from prescribed lists; the special subject may 
be omitted by candidates who do not aim at a place 
in the first class. 

Explanatory Note 

The School of Modern Languages olTers both practical 
and cultural attractions, especially to American students. 
A degree obtained In It will be counted as equivalent to 
two years' graduate study at most American universities. 
The work required involves a thorough knowledge of at 
least one Continental language; and affords to the student 
an aid to profitable travel and study of customs and 
conditions In the corresponding country or countries. 

Recent events have naturally made French the most 
popular language In the School; and the teaching stafiF 
has been strengthened by the appointment of Dr. Gustave 
Rudler to the newly established Marshal Foch Professor- 
ship of French Literature. But good facilities are afforded 
also In German, Italian, Spanish, Russian and Greek. 
The work for the degree usually requires three years. 



98 OXFORD OF TODAY 

The School is not designed for beginners in the study 
of the language selected. In the more popular languages 
of the School the more important lectures and all the 
texts are in the language studied ; indeed an ordinary 
acquaintance with the language is taken for granted. 
The work of the School includes the study of philology 
and the history of the language, the study of the literature 
and history of the countries concerned, and constant 
exercise in writing and speaking the language. For the 
special subject it is possible to choose a modern language 
other than that offered for the other parts of the Final 
Examination. 

10. Honour School of Philosophy Politics and 
Economics 

The subject of the recently established Honour School 
of Philosophy Politics and Economics is the study of the 
structure, and the philosophical, political, and economic 
principles, of modern society. 

The Final Examination in this School includes : 

1. Moral and Political Philosophy. 

2. British Political and Constitutional History from 1760. 

3. British Social and Economic History from 1760. 

4. The History of Philosophy from Descartes. 

5. Political Economy. 

6. Prescribed books in any two of the following subjects: 

(a) Metaphysics and Moral Philosophy. 

(b) Political Philosophy. 

(c) Political Economy. 

7. A further subject in Philosophy or Politics or Political 

Economy. 



B.A. DEGREE AND HONOUR SCHOOLS 99 

8. Unprepared Translation from French, German, and 
Italian authors. Every Candidate must satisfy the Ex- 
aminers in two at least of these languages. 
Candidates will be expected to show such knowledge of 
the contemporary history of Europe and America as 
is necessary for the proper study of subjects (2) and (3) 
specified above. The Examination is so arranged that 
Candidates may give special attention either to Philoso- 
phy or to Politics or to Political Economy. 



B. Pass School 

Candidates for the degree of B.A. in the Pass School 
must offer for examination three subjects selected from 
the following groups: 

Group A. I. Two books, either both Greek, or one Greek and 
(Classical) one Latin, one being some portion of a Greek 

philosophical work, and the other a portion of 

a Greek or Latin Historian. 

2. The whole or some portions of Greek and Roman 

History. 

3. The Hebrew Language. 

Group B. I. Either English History, or general European 
(Modern) History. 

2. The French Language. 

3. Either Political Theory and Institutions, or Eco- 

nomic History and Theory. 

4. A branch of legal study. 

5. The German Language. 

6. English Literature. 

Group C. I. Mathematics. 

(Science) 2. The elements of Physics. 

3. The elements of Chemistry. 

4. The elements of Biology (Zoology and Botany). 



loo OXFORD OF TODAY 

Group D. The elements of Religious Knowledge, including spe- 
(Theology) cified portions of the Old and New Testaments, 
one of the Creeds, with a portion of the Thirty- 
Nine Articles, a period of ecclesiastical history, 
and some apologetic treatise. 

Group E. Military History. 

One subject must be either A(i) or A (3), or B(2) or 
B(5); and, unless 6(2) or B(5) be one, not more than' 
two subjects may be taken from any one Group. The 
examinations in the three subjects may be passed in 
separate terms. The work in the Pass School is 
distinctly below the standard of that required in the 
Honour Schools. 



C. Agriculture and Forestry 

In preparation for the Final Examination in the School 
of Agriculture and Forestry (not an Honour School) 
undergraduates who are not exempt from the Inter- 
mediate Examination (see p. 59) commonly read for the 
Preliminary Examination connected with this School. 

The Preliminary Examination covers: 

1. The formation and properties of soil. 

2. The principles of cultivation. 

3. Fundamental economic conceptions connected with land, 

and the outlines of the historical development of Agri- 
culture in Great Britain and Ireland in the l8th and 
19th centuries. 

4. The elements of Physics, Chemistry, and Biology in their 

bearings on Agriculture and Forestry. 

5. Systematic Botany. 



B.A. DEGREE AND HONOUR SCHOOLS loi 

6. A portion of a French or German author, and unseen 

translations. 
Candidates must satisfy the examiners in Subjects i and 6, 
and in two of the Subjects 2-5. 

The Final Examination may be taken — 
Either in Agriculture, including 

1. The principles of farm management, 

2. Estate management. 

3. Economics of Agriculture. 

4. The history of the development of Agriculture. 

Candidates must ofifer the first and two other subjects. 
Or in Forestry, including 

1. The economics of Forestry and forest policy. 

2. Silviculture. 

3. Forest protection. 

4. Forest utilization. 

5. Forest mensuration. 

6. Forest management. 

7. Forest valuation and finance. 
Candidates must ofifer all seven subjects. 



CHAPTER VI 

COURSES OF STUDY: ADVANCED OR POST- 
GRADUATE DEGREES 

By L. A. Crosby, B.C.L., M.A., Maine and Trinity, 'jj 

1. The M.A. Degree. 

The M.A. degree at Oxford represents an advance 
above the B.A. degree only in the matter of standing. 
No further examinations or studies are required. The 
degree can be taken only by a holder of the B.A. ; and 
by him not earlier than the 21st term from matriculation, 
and provided only he has kept his name upon the books 
of his college during that entire period and paid certain 
college and University dues and fees. The importance 
of the M.A. degree lies in the fact that only holders of 
that degree (and they only so long as they keep their 
name on the books of their colleges) are members of the 
general governing assembly of the University — Convoca- 
tion. 

2. The "Research" Degrees — Letters, Science, and Philos- 
ophy. 

Until the present century Oxford had been frankly 
disinclined to encourage that form of post-graduate study 
generally identified as to origin with German universities 
and commonly described as "research". The established 
Oxonian B.A. system, combining undergraduate status 
with a measure of specialization, produced an ideal of 



ADVANCED DEGREES 103 

liberal education, culture, and sound scholarship, to 
which the narrowness of the intense specialization and 
minute labor of the German Ph.D. was repellent. 

But some years ago this University also yielded to the 
supposed demands of a scientific and professional age, and 
took steps toward the creation of a graduate school, in 
the American sense of the term, by establishing two 
"research" degrees — that of Bachelor of Letters and that 
of Bachelor of Science (Science being taken to include 
Mathematics and Natural Science). 

It should not be supposed, however, that this led at 
Oxford to the growth of a large and zealous body of 
"researchers", assembled from the ends of the earth, and 
working in permanently organized seminars and classes 
such as may be found at Harvard or Columbia. On the 
contrary, there was no hard and fast line where techni- 
cally undergraduate work ended and strictly graduate 
work began. There was and is comparatively little 
organized graduate teaching or instruction, but rather 
(by an extension of the tutorial system) direct personal 
guidance of the student by a professor. There are lec- 
tures and a few small groups in the nature of seminars — 
but these are informal rather than permanent organiza- 
tions. 

Oxford has never espoused method as method. In 
graduate work, her attitude is that rich fields of material 
are available in the Bodleian Library, the Taylor In- 
stitution, the Museums, etc.; professors, readers, lec- 
turers and tutors, who can speak with authority, who are 
themselves engaged in research, are ready to assist and 
inspire new students by guidance and example; and the 
student himself (particularly the graduate student) 



I04 OXFORD OF TODAY 

may fairly be expected to contribute the necessary initia- 
tive and energy. 

It was characteristic of Oxford in estabhshing its first 
research degrees (and in accord with its historical prac- 
tice that a doctorate in any subject must be preceded by 
a baccalaureate in that subject) that these degrees were 
given a baccalaureate title. This is far from implying — 
as similar titles elsewhere often imply — that the work 
is of a second-rate or undergraduate standard. On the 
contrary, the work for both degrees is post-graduate 
research work of a high standard, though probably 
slightly less exhaustive than that required for a Ph.D. 
in the best American universities. 

The B.Litt. and B.Sc. are open to all Oxford B.A. 
men and to other students who are at least 21 years of 
age, and who "can give satisfactory evidence of having 
received a good general education" and of being well 
fitted to pursue the special study or research on which 
they propose to enter. Rhodes Scholars or other foreign 
students who have taken a bachelor's degree at some 
American or foreign university of good reputation will 
generally be able to secure permission to work for these 
degrees. The credentials to be presented include: A 
certificate of age; a certificate of degree or degrees already 
taken, accompanied by a catalogue or register of the uni- 
versity; a detailed statement of work done or published 
as a result of special studies; a statement of the subject 
and nature of the proposed course of special study or 
research; and evidence of fitness to enter thereupon, such 
as letters of recommendation from former professors and 
instructors. 

Once admitted as a candidate, the student's work will 



ADVANCED DEGREES 105 

ordinarily be under the direction of one or more Super- 
visors, one of whom is usually a professor, appointed by 
the Board of Faculty concerned. The duty of the 
Supervisors is to direct and superintend the work of the 
student, but not to give him systematic instruction. 

The residence requirements are not severe: an Oxford 
B.A. is not required to put in any further residence; and 
other students must reside at the University only a 
minimum of six terms (i. e. about half the time of two 
calendar years). 

Upon completion of work, the student applies to the 
Board for a certificate of merit, accompanying his 
application by copies of his dissertation. Examiners 
appointed by the Board consider the dissertation, and 
examine the student publicly in its subject and in matters 
relevant to his course of study or research. Upon their 
favorable report, approved by the Board (which approval 
may be conditioned upon the publication of the disserta- 
tion or some portion of it) the student is entitled to 
receive the degree of B.Litt. or B.Sc, as the case may be. 

Persons who have received the B.Litt. or the B.Sc. 
may, after reaching the 20th term from their matricula- 
tion, supplicate for the degree of Doctor of Letters 
(D.Litt.) or Doctor of Science (D.Sc), as the case may be. 
Oxford M.A.'s who have entered upon the 30th term 
from their matriculation are also eligible to supplicate 
for either of these degrees. The candidate must offer a 
"published paper or book, containing an original con- 
tribution to the advancement of learning or science", 
and one year must elapse between the publication of 
such paper or book and its submission in support of his 
application for the degree. The material submitted is 



io6 OXFORD OF TODAY 

considered by the Board of Faculty concerned, and if 
approved, the appHcant is entitled to the degree of 
D.Litt. or D.Sc, as the case may be. There are corre- 
sponding requirements in the Faculties of Law and of 
Medicine for the corresponding degrees of D.C.L. and 
D.M. (see pages 112 and 113) 

Doctorate of Philosophy 

Until 191 8 no doctorate was obtainable at Oxford until 
approximately seven years from matriculation, and even 
then only if the student had previously proceeded to a 
baccalaureate. But in that year a new Doctorate of 
Philosophy (D.Phil.) was established. This new degree 
embodies substantially the features and requirements 
commonly associated with the Ph.D. degree of American 
universities. It is a research degree for a graduate stu- 
dent, who comes to the University as such, and pursues 
his subject of research for from two to three calendar 
years, finally offering for the degree a dissertation 
actually published or accepted for publication, and 
being examined on its subject and matters relevant 
thereto. 

The importance of this new degree to the University 
and to American and other foreign students cannot be 
over emphasized. It at last makes possible at Oxford — 
not graduate research work, for that was possible before 
— but the attainment within a reasonable length of time 
of a title of recognition for such work which will be 
understood and accepted in the United States. The 
change should quickly lead to the presence of more re- 
search students at the University, and the strengthening 
of its graduate school. 



ADVANCED DEGREES 107 

For the purposes of this degree, the University has 
created the status of Advanced Student ; and only such 
students are permitted to suppHcate for the D.Phil. The 
following persons may be admitted to the status of 
Advanced Student: 

1. Members of the University: 

(a) Who have been placed in the first or second class in a 

Final Honour School; 

(b) Who have received a certificate entitling them to sup- 

plicate for the degree of B.Litt. or B.Sc. ; 

(c) Who have been placed in the first class in Honour 

Moderations or Honour Mathematical Moderations 
and who have passed all necessary examinations for 
the B.A. ; 

(d) Who have received the degree of B.A. or M.A., and who 

satisfy the Committee for Advanced Studies of their 
fitness to receive the status of Advanced Student. 

2. Students from other universities, who satisfy the following 
conditions: 

(a) They must be not less than 22 years of age; 

(b) They must have obtained a degree at a university, such 

degree and university being approved by the Com- 
mittee for Advanced Studies. (It may be assumed 
that the ordinary degrees of any American university 
of good standing will be accepted.) ; 

(c) They must have pursued a course of study at one or 

more universities so approved, extending over four 
years at least ; 

(d) They must have produced evidence, to the satisfaction 

of the Committee, of fitness to engage in research. 



io8 OXFORD OF TODAY 

(This evidence should ordinarily take the form of 
testimonials from professors familiar with the appli- 
cant's work.) 

The applicant must also state the subject and nature 
of his proposed course of study or research. His applica- 
tion approved, he at once takes up the pursuit of his 
study or research under the general direction of the 
Board of Faculty to which his subject belongs, and 
under the immediate direction of Supervisors appointed 
by that Board. The Supervisors will direct and super- 
intend the work of the student, but are not expected to 
give him systematic instruction. The amount of assist- 
ance given will depend partly on the needs of the stu- 
dent, and still more on the nature of the subject of his 
research. Where the research is carried on in some 
branch of Natural Science, the student will be working 
in a laboratory, under the eye of the Supervisor, with 
whom he will be in daily intercourse. On the literary 
side, too, there are subjects such as Palaeography and 
Papyrology, in which the student would probably work 
in constant touch with his Supervisor. Where, again, 
there are sufficient students in a subject to permit of the 
formation of a seminar, that will be done. In many 
cases, both the Supervisor and the student may find 
that all that Is necessary and desirable is for the Super- 
visor to direct the student to the best sources of in- 
formation, and to advise him on important matters. 
In Modern History and English Literature, courses of 
lectures for advanced students have been organized. 

The Advanced Student will ordinarily be required to 
spend at least three academic years on his course of 
research work. (In the case of certain Oxford B.A. men, 



ADVANCED DEGREES 109 

or those entitled to the B.Litt. or B.Sc, this require- 
ment is reduced to five terms.) But the entire three 
years need not be spent actually at Oxford; the actual 
residence required is only six terms, and the remainder of 
the course may be pursued elsewhere upon permission 
from the Committee for Advanced Studies. Further- 
more, the Board may permit the period of three academic 
years to be reduced tt) two, if the student has done satis- 
factory research work at his previous university. 
The substantial conditions for the D.Phil, are: 

1. A dissertation which shall be of such a character as to 

be deemed by the examiners appointed by the Board 
to constitute "an original contribution to knowledge 
set forth in such a manner as to be fit for publication 
in extenso"; such dissertation shall have been actually 
published or accepted for publication before the degree 
can be taken. 

2. A viva voce examination in the subject of the dissertation, 

and a written and viva voce examination in matters rele- 
vant to that subject. (In the Faculties of Medicine and 
Natural Science, the written examination is discretionar>' 
with the Board of the Faculty concerned.) 

The new doctorate is designed only for those fully 
qualified for research; the work required must be of a 
high order, and presented in literary form. 

An important feature of the degree is the provision 
for giving credit for research work done elsewhere. It 
may be hoped that reciprocal recognition may be given 
by American universities to work done at Oxford. 

The advantages of Oxford for the research student 
need not be dwelt upon. The University teaching staff" 
includes men of leading position in their respective fields. 



no OXFORD OF TODAY 

The University libraries, museums and institutions con- 
tain abundant and rich materials, such as are scarcely 
to be found in the younger universities of America and 
the British Dominions. The Bodleian Library — the 
largest university library in the world — is especially rich 
in manuscripts and other materials covering mediaeval 
and modern history, both English and European, and 
English literature. The Taylorian Library contains an 
exceptional collection covering the literature and philol- 
ogy of the modern European languages. Brief descrip- 
tions of these and other libraries, museums and institu- 
tions of the University are contained in Appendix A. 
Furthermore, the student is within easy reach of the 
British Museum in London, and not far from the 
resources of Paris and other Continental libraries. 

3. Degrees in Law, — B.C.L. and D.C.L. 

The degree of Bachelor of Civil Law (B.C.L.) Is a 
post-graduate degree of high standing in the University; 
and is perhaps the best general degree in law in the 
British Empire. It is open to holders of the Oxford B.A., 
and to persons above the age of 21 who have obtained a 
degree in Arts, Philosophy, Science or Law in some other 
university and who have satisfied the Board of the 
Faculty of Law that they will be qualified to pursue an 
advanced course of legal study. The minimum residence 
requirement is two years. The examination may be gen- 
erally described as an extension and intensification of 
the B.A. in Jurisprudence. The written papers are fol- 
lowed by a viva voce. The subjects of examination in- 
clude : Jurisprudence and Theory of Legislation ; Roman 
Law, including the law of the Institutes and a Special 



ADVANCED DEGREES iii 

Subject selected from the Digest; English Law, including 
Real and Personal Property, Contracts, Torts, Criminal 
Law, Procedure of the High Court, Equity (with 
special reference to Trusts and Partnership), and one 
special subject selected from a prescribed list; Interna- 
tional Law, Public or Private; Roman-Dutch Law 
(optional). 

The B.C.L. examination is considered one of the most 
difficult in the University. It covers a wider range of 
subjects than is ordinarily studied in an American law 
school. For example, considerable attention is paid to Ro- 
man law; candidates must have a fair knowledge of Latin, 
and an ability to read the works of French and German 
jurists in the original is of material assistance in preparing 
for examinations. While some lectures are given, prac- 
tically all the work must be done by the student under 
the guidance of his tutor and without formal instruction. 
The case system of instruction, so prevalent in America, is 
not in use at Oxford; although students are required to 
read and know a very large number of cases. 

American students who have previously studied but 
little law have found it wiser to begin their studies at 
Oxford with the B.A. in Jurisprudence, rather than with 
the B.C.L. If one is ambitious and willing to give up terms 
and vacations for three years to close and persistent work 
he can take the B.A. in two years and follow it with the 
B.C.L. at the end of the third year. This programme, 
although exacting, has been carried out by a number of 
Rhodes Scholars, both American and Colonial. 

Americans who have not been to Oxford have been 
known to question the practical value of law studies 
pursued there with a view to practice in the United 



112 OXFORD OF TODAY 

States. There should be no uneasiness on this point. 
The law studied is chiefly English common law and 
equity — the principles of which are the same in both 
jurisdictions. The B.C.L. covers in English law substan- 
tially the field covered in American law schools; and the 
Oxford standard of work is at least as high. Furthermore, 
local state authorities in America usually credit time 
spent at Oxford toward the qualifications necessary for 
bar examinations. In short, the Oxford B.C.L. graduate 
will not find himself at a disadvantage as a practising 
lawyer in the United States. This is established by the 
experience of American Rhodes Scholars now practising 
successfully at home without having attended an Amer- 
ican law school either before or after their Oxford course. 
The degree of Doctor of Civil Law (D.C.L.) may be 
obtained by any person who has taken the B.C.L. and 
has thereafter pursued the study of Civil Law for five 
years from the date of that degree. The candidate must 
submit a dissertation upon a subject previously approved 
by the Regius Professor of Civil Law ; or a book, treating 
in a scientific manner of a legal subject, already printed 
and published, of which he is the author. 

4. Degrees in Medicine, — B.M. (B.Ch.), M.Ch., D.M. 

The degree of Bachelor of Medicine (with which is 
always granted that of Bachelor of Surgery) can be 
obtained only by persons who have previously received 
the Oxford B.A., and who have passed certain exami- 
nations, including: 

I. A First Examination, covering Organic Chemistry, Human 
Anatomy, and Human Physiology. 



ADVANCED DEGREES 113 

2. A Second Examination, including Medicine, Surgery, 
Midwifery, Pathology, Forensic Medicine and Public 
Health, Materia Medica and Pharmacology. 

Examinations are written, viva voce, and practical. No 
candidate is admitted to the Second Examination until 
at least the i8th term from matriculation. The ordinary 
time taken for the B.M. is six or seven years, during 
which the student will generally have taken the B.A. in 
the School of Natural Science. This degree, for reasons of 
time if for no other difficulties, is beyond the reach of 
Rhodes Scholars within the three years for which their 
scholarships run. 

The degree of Master of Surgery (M.Ch.) is obtain- 
able by a Bachelor of Surgery who has attained the 21st 
term from matriculation, on passing an examination in 
the practice of Surgery, Surgical Anatomy, Surgical 
Pathology, and Surgical Operations. 

The degree of Doctor of Medicine (D.M.) may be 
applied for by candidates who hold the degree of B.M. 
and who have entered upon their 30th term from matric- 
ulation, upon presentation of a dissertation on a sub- 
ject connected with the Science or Practice of Medicine, 
and including the history and literature of the subject 
treated. Under certain circumstances a book recently 
published may be accepted instead of a dissertation. 

5. Degrees in Theology (Divinity), — B.D., D.D. 

The following persons are eligible for the degree of 
Bachelor of Divinity: 

I . A person holding the Oxford degree of Master of Arts (other 
than a degree honoris causa), provided: 



114 OXFORD OF TODAY 

(a) he shall have passed the qualifying examination; and 

(b) he shall have obtained from the Board of the Faculty 

of Theology a certificate that he has presented a 
thesis of sufficient merit to entitle him to supplicate 
for the degree. 
2. A person not under the age of 21, who has been or is qualified 
to be matriculated in the University, and who is a 
graduate of some other university, and deemed by 
the Board to be well qualified to pursue a course of 
study in Christian Theology, may become a candi- 
date for the degree of Bachelor of Divinity, and may 
be admitted to the qualifying examination not earlier 
than the sixth (or ninth, in the case of Foreign, 
Colonial and certain other students) term from ma- 
triculation. After keeping statutory residence in the 
University for six terms, such a person may suppli- 
cate for the degree, provided: 

(c) he shall have passed the qualifying examination 

(b) he shall have obtained certificates from the Board that 

he has occupied himself for five terms at least after 
his admission in the study of Christian Theology 
under the supervision of the Board; and that he has 
presented a thesis of sufficient merit to entitle him 
to supplicate for the degree; and 

(c) he shall have attained the age of twenty-six years. 

The qualifying examination includes papers in the 
following subjects, all of which must be taken by the 
candidate: The Old Testament, Apocrypha, the New 
Testament; translations from at least two of the follow- 
ing languages: Hebrew, Greek, Latin; Church History; 
Christian Ethics, Philosophy of Religion, Comparative 
Religion and Christian Doctrine. The thesis must be 
upon some subject of Christian Theology approved by 
the Board. 



ADVANCED DEGREES 115 

Generally speaking, the degree of Doctor of Divinity 
is open only to (i) Masters of Arts of the University who 
hold the degree of Bachelor of Divinity and who have 
attained their 42ad term from matriculation (in the case 
of persons whose degree of Master of Arts was conferred 
by Convocation, to such of them as have attained the 
2ist term from admission to that degree); (2) to persons 
admitted to the degree of Bachelor of Divinity as grad- 
uates of another University provided they have at- 
tained the age of 33 years. An application for the degree 
of Doctor of Divinity must be accompanied by a pub- 
lished work or a thesis dealing with some subject or sub- 
jects of Christian Theology and containing an original 
contribution to the study thereof. A candidate is subject 
to examination upon the subjects of his published work or 
thesis. 

6, Degrees in Music, — B.Mus. and D.Mus. 

The degree of Bachelor of Music (B.Mus.) is open to 
candidates who have passed Responsions or the special 
preliminary examination for students in Music (or who 
are exempt from either of these), provided they shall have 
passed the prescribed examinations for the degree, shall 
have composed a musical exercise approved by the exam- 
iners, and shall have either been admitted to the degree 
of B.A. or passed certain examinations in the Pass School 
and have pursued for two years a course of study at Ox- 
ford or at some Academy or College approved by the 
Board of Studies for Music. The preliminary examina- 
tion consists of any three subjects of Responsions, 
including two languages other than English. The exam- 
inations for the degree include: 



ii6 OXFORD OF TODAY 

1. A First Examination in Harmony and Counterpoint in not 

more than four parts. 

2. A Second Examination covering Harmony and Counter- 

point in five parts, the history of the art of music, play- 
ing at sight from full score, instrumentation, original 
composition, including fugue in not more than four 
parts, and certain standard works. 

The musical exercise may not be submitted until the 
ninth term from matriculation; but it should be noted 
that residence is not a requisite for eligibility for the de- 
gree. The musical exercise should be a vocal work of 
not more than four movements including a five-part 
chorus, a song or duet, an unaccompanied vocal quartet, 
and a five-part choral fugue. 

The degree of Doctor of Music is open to the holder 
of the B.Mus. who shall have received that degree at least 
three years previously; and to holders of the degree of 
M.A. who have entered upon their 30th term from 
matriculation. Candidates are examined in composi- 
tion, orchestration and allied subjects, general musical 
history, and detailed analysis of certain prescribed 
compositions. Each candidate must submit an original 
musical composition which must be either (i) an ex- 
tended work for solo voices, chorus and full orchestra; 
a symphony for full orchestra; or a symphonic poem, 
concerto, variations or suite, for full orchestra; or (2) 
an extended chamber-work for at least three instru- 
ments, a sonata for not less than two instruments, 
song cycle, or an extended work for unaccompanied 
voices in not less than five parts; provided that if one of 
this second alternative set is chosen, there must also be 
offered an overture or fantasia for full orchestra. 



CHAPTER VII 

THE COLLEGES OF OXFORD; THEIR HISTORY 
AND CHARACTERISTICS 

By Joseph Wells, M.A., Warden of Wadham College 

The distinguishing feature of Oxford and Cambridge, 
as contrasted with other universities, is that they are 
still universities of colleges. These institutions were 
once widespread; the causes that have led to their sur- 
vival in the old English universities do not concern us 
here, nor the question whether their influence on the 
University has been for its good or not. What is certain 
is that the choice of a college is a material factor in a 
man's Oxford life, and that in his college will be centred 
the larger part of his university interest. 

The distinctive marks of all Oxford colleges are that 
they are societies founded for purposes of education, 
that they have endowments to render this easy, thai 
they are self-governing, and that their members live a 
common life, largely — though not entirely — within the 
walls of one building. Hence the history of one college 
is in many respects the history of all; but they all have 
from time to time developed special features, and it has 
been the good fortune of Oxford that none of its colleges 
has ever so developed as to secure a preponderating 
position, and that none of them is so small that it has 



ii8 OXFORD OF TODAY 

not been able to contribute materially to the history and 
the activities of the University. 

Three colleges in Oxford claim priority of date and 
they all have grounds for their claim. University College 
heads the official list; and undoubtedly the oldest 
college endowment belongs to it, for it was in 1249 that 
William of Durham lent money for the support of "ten 
or more" students of theology. But this was for 30 
years a mere trust in the hands of the University, and the 
College did not receive its statutes until 1280. Balliol's 
claim to priority is that it has occupied its present site 
for a longer period than any other Oxford college. But 
the essence of a college is self-government, and by this 
test there is no doubt that the pride of first place must 
be assigned to Merton. Walter de Merton, Bishop of 
Rochester and Chancellor to the great Edward I, was 
one of those ecclesiastical statesmen to whom England 
owes so much. He saw that there was a danger that the 
best students in the universities, which were rapidly 
rising to power, might be attracted by the orders of 
the Preaching Friars, the Franciscans and the Domini- 
cans, and so be lost to the Secular Clergy. Such a loss 
would have been most serious, for the Secular Clergy in 
Mediaeval England furnished the whole of what would 
now be called "the professional class". To prevent this 
absorption he devoted his revenues to founding an insti- 
tution which in wealth and dignity should rival the 
great friaries which had already been built in Oxford. 
It was a condition in his statutes from the first that his 
students should never be members of the Regular 
Clergy. By 1274 his scheme was complete, and Merton 
College for nearly 600 years was governed by the statutes 



COLLEGES OF OXFORD 119 

that he drew up. And his example was soon followed, 
e. g. in Peterhouse at Cambridge and in the next half 
century by three colleges at Oxford, Exeter (13 14), 
Oriel (1327) and Queen's (1340), all founded like Merton 
by ecclesiastics. The endowments of University College 
and of Balliol were also regulated by statutes drawn up 
on the model of Merton. Hence Walter de Merton is 
well described on his monument in his Cathedral of 
Rochester, as the founder "exemplo omnium quotquot 
extant collegiorum" . 

By a happy chance Merton as the "type" college has 
preserved its original buildings almost entirely; the 
Chapel is a beautiful specimen of Edwardian Gothic, the 
Hall, though ruined by "restoration", has still a wonder- 
ful thirteenth century door, the same Treasury has from 
the first sheltered Merton *s unique series of accounts, and 
even the living rooms of the "Mob Quad" all belong 
to the fourteenth century. The Library especially, 
which was built about a century after the Founder's 
death, is the finest example of a mediaeval Library in 
England. 

Merton remained "the college" for 100 years, and when 
it was eclipsed in magnificence by William of Wykeham's 
College of St. Mary of Winchester (1386), the nickname 
"New College", given to his foundation was evidence that 
no previous one could rival Merton. As a proof that 
Walter de Merton had not planned in vain may be 
mentioned the fact that, between 1294 and 1366, six of 
the seven Archbishops of Canterbury were Merton men. 
The Archbishop of Canterbury is still "the first subject", 
not of royal blood, in England; and in the fourteenth cen- 
tury he was even more important. But the names of 



120 OXFORD OF TODAY 

Merton's archbishops are forgotten, while that of their 
contemporary, John Wychfife is a household word ; that 
he was a Fellow of Merton, there is good evidence, though 
the fact is not quite certain. 

Of the other five colleges which have been grouped with 
Merton, there is little to say during this period. It is 
a curious coincidence, though only a coincidence, that 
two, Exeter and Oriel, were founded in the short and 
troubled reign of Edward II, and that two colleges also 
were founded (Trinity and St. John's), in the even shorter 
reign of Mary. Exeter was especially a foundation for 
men from the western counties, Balliol had from the first 
a connection with Scotland, and Queen's with Northwest 
England. There was nothing unusual in these local con- 
nections; in the fourteenth century these were the rule; 
what is interesting is that, unlike most other colleges, all 
these three have in varying degrees preserved their local 
connection ; this is especially true of Queen's College. 

Closely connected with Queen's College, and of even 
greater age, is the dependent foundation of St. Edmund 
Hall, the only surviving example of a system of Univer- 
sity life older than the college foundations. The halls 
were originally independent self-governing bodies, but 
gradually the authority of the Chancellor was extended 
over them. Queen's, however, acquired in 1559 and has 
succeeded in keeping, the right to nominate the head of 
St. Edmund Hall. The Hall is said to derive its name 
from St. Edmund, Archbishop of Canterbury in the 
reign of Henry HI; but the earliest Principals on record 
held office in the early years of the fourteenth century, 
and no part of its picturesque buildings dates earlier than 
1450. 



COLLEGES OF OXFORD 121 

The later Middle Ages in England, i.e., the fourteenth 
and the fifteenth centuries, were comparatively barren of 
great men; but no one can refuse this name to Edward 
the Black Prince and Henry V, who are said to have been 
at Queen's College (of Henry V this is probably true), or 
to John Wycliffe who, whatever his connection with 
Merton, was certainly Master of Balliol, though only for 
about one year. As the opponent of Papal authority and 
as the first to appeal in religious matters to the people, he 
is the forerunner of a new era. Certainly Oxford, though 
not Balliol, was the centre from which went forth his 
"Poor Preachers", and which furnished him with helpers 
in his translation of the Bible. *It was Oriel College 
which was the centre of the Wycliffite Movement; the 
suppression of which required the whole power of 
Archbishop Arundel, reinforced by royal authority. 

The anti-Wycliffite reaction was the origin of the next 
two colleges to be founded. New College (1386) and 
Lincoln (1429). Both were intended to train a learned 
clergy to defend the Church and to supply her with min- 
isters. " Of these. New College is the more famous. Its 
founder, William of Wykeham, had been one of the 
leaders of the Parliamentary opposition to Edward HI, 
and alike as a statesman and as one of the greatest of 
English architects deserves to be remembered. But his 
Oxford college is his real memorial; by him it was con- 
nected with Winchester College, the "oldest English 
public school", and by its magnificence and its elaborate 
arrangements for teaching within its own walls, it marked 
the triumph of the college system. Wykeham's work was 
on such a scale that the larger part of the New College 
buildings date back to his own day; Chapel, Hall, 



122 OXFORD OF TODAY 

Cloisters, Quad, all remain to show how adequately he 
planned and how skilfully he built. 

Lincoln was a much humbler institution. Its founder, 
Richard Fleming, had been a follower of Wycliffe, but, 
alarmed by the excesses of his party, he devoted himself 
at the end of his life, when Bishop of Lincoln, to check- 
ing the heresy he had once supported. "It is a curious 
irony of Providence that the most famous member of his 
"little college" should have been John Wesley, the 
Wycliffe of the eighteenth century. "" 

Three other colleges belong to this period. All Souls 
(1438) founded to commemorate those who fell in the 
great French Wars of Henry V and Henry VI ; Magdalen 
(1458) the most perfect in buildings and surroundings of 
all Oxford colleges; and Brasenose (1509). This last 
may be said to have been in some ways the college most 
consistent to type in Oxford. Founded on somewhat old- 
fashioned lines, it has always maintained educationally a 
connection with the English landed gentry, especially 
those of Lancashire and Cheshire. Its worthies have been 
men, not of genius, but of that solid type which England 
has always loved: Nowell, the compiler of the Anglican 
Catechism; Burton, author of the Anatomy of Melan- 
choly; Barham, the witty poet of the I ngoldsby Legends; 
and last but not least, Lord Haig of Bemerside, the 
victor of 1 91 8. Foxe the Martyrologist and Robertson 
of Brighton may or may not be said to show the same 
type. Certainly Walter Pater did not, and yet his devotion 
to the Hellenic ideal found satisfaction in one side at all 
events of the life of his college — its athletic tradition. 
Brasenose grit and staying power have made a new de- 
velopment in Pater's younger contemporary. Sir Arthur 




a 



COLLEGES OF OXFORD 123 

Evans, who, combining as he does the daring explorer 
and the brilliant scholar, stands in the very first rank 
among those who have rediscovered in our own day the 
Ancient East. His "Minoans" have done even more to 
revolutionize Ancient History than Schliemann's diggings 
at Troy and Mycenae. 

All Souls need not long concern us. It has developed 
on lines different from those of any other Oxford college, 
and is peculiar in that (except for four Bible-clerkships 
held by undergraduates) it is a college of fellows only. 
It has been called "a place of education that does not 
educate", but this is the view of narrow prejudice. It 
has played in the past, and still plays, a great part in 
Oxford life, and by its magnificent Library and by its 
lavish endowment of Law teachers, it has made possible 
the Oxford Law School, which finds its natural centre in 
the lecture rooms of All Souls. It is fitting that Black- 
stone should be among the most prominent of All Souls 
worthies; his Commentaries, once so dear to the Ameri- 
can heart, if Burke may be trusted, were delivered as 
professorial lectures there. A less familiar side of All 
Souls learning is that of Science and Medicine; in our 
own day the College has dropped its connection with 
these, but the names of Linacre, of Thomas Sydenham 
and of Sir Christopher Wren rank high in their respective 
branches of Science. 

But to return to the fifteenth century. Magdalen marks 
the transition from Mediaeval to Renaissance Oxford 
and has from its beginning taken the first place in beauty, 
both in buildings and in surroundings. "The most noble 
and rich structure in the learned world", as Anthony Wood 
calls it, is known the whole world over for its splendid 



124 OXFORD OF TODAY 

tower, and its other buildings agree worthily with this. 
Half of them date from the fifteenth century, and the 
good genius of the College saw to it that the additions of 
the eighteenth and the nineteenth centuries carried on 
the tradition of perfection. 

In the very first generation of its existence, Magdalen 
was the centre of that distinguished circle of scholars 
which Erasmus found so delightful, though the most 
famous of them. Sir Thomas More, belonged to St. 
Mary's Hall, and so to Oriel. John Colet of Magdalen 
especially was the leader in that Oxford movement, so 
delightfully chronicled in Mr. Seebohm's book, which 
sought to "reform" the Church by sound learning. 

The same college trained the two most munificent of 
Renaissance founders, Foxe and Wolsey, whose colleges. 
Corpus Christi and Christ Church, were from the be- 
ginning homes of the "New Learning". Corpus was the 
first college in England where Greek teaching was defi- 
nitely endowed, and it has remained ever since a special 
home of scholars. Perhaps what especially distinguishes 
Bishop Foxe's foundation is the well-marked character 
for learning which it has always retained. Corpus passed 
through the dark days of the eighteenth century with 
much less discredit than most Oxford colleges, and 
to-day, deliberately choosing to remain the smallest of 
Oxford foundations, it has probably the highest average 
standard intellectually for its undergraduates; it aims also 
at maintaining that close college feeling which allows 
none within its walls to be outsiders and insists that every 
man should know every other and make the best of 
him. Of the two Oxford movements with which it is 
especially connected, more will be said later. 



COLLEGES OF OXFORD 125 

Cardinal Wolsey's name is certainly the most magnifi- 
cent on the roll of Oxford's Founders, and his college, 
though robbed of its name "Cardinal College", and of 
some of its endowments, by its second "founder", Henry 
VIII, has from the first been in the front rank of Oxford 
institutions, and often for considerable periods "first and 
the rest nowhere". Of Wolsey's work the great Dining 
Hall survives to typify the good old Oxford tradition of 
the close connection of body and mind, and of the need 
of sound food for both. The worthies of Christ Church 
whose portraits make its Hall Oxford's best picture- 
gallery will be mentioned in their places later. 

The Reformation proper was a Cambridge movement, 
and Oxford produced hardly any reformers of the first 
rank; but William Tyndall of Magdalen Hall (now 
incorporated in Hertford College) must at least be men- 
tioned, for to his scholarship and command of the best 
Tudor English the Authorized Version of the Bible 
owes more than to any other translator. He was a 
martyr as well as a confessor. But Oxford probably 
gave more of its sons as martyrs to the Roman Faith, 
than to the Reformation ; a notable example is the Jesuit, 
Edmund Campion of St. John's. 

The Reformation movement robbed Oxford of some 
of its colleges, i. e., those which had been held by the 
Regular Clergy. Two of these, however — Durham (1286) 
and St. Bernard's (1437) — were refounded at once in 
the reign of Mary, as Trinity (1554) and St. John's 
(1555). respectively. Both of these owed their restora- 
tion to wealthy citizens of London, men devoted to the 
old form of the Faith, but Englishmen before they were 
Romanists, and prepared to benefit their country's 



126 OXFORD OF TODAY 

Church even if they thought it had strayed into heresy. 

Trinity has never been identified with any great 
Oxford movement; yet probably few Oxford colleges 
have produced so many famous men. Perhaps its con- 
nection with America may especially be noted. In 
Calvert it claims a founder of one of the 13 original States 
(Maryland) ; in William Pitt, "the great commoner", 
the man who won America for the English-speaking peo- 
ples; in. Lord North, the man who threw half of the 
great conquest away ; and in Lord Bryce, the expounder 
of the American Constitution and political institutions, 
and England's well-loved ambassador. 

Under Henry VIII and Edward VI Oxford seemed 
likely to perish. Under Elizabeth scholarship revived 
somewhat, thanks to the liberality of men like Bodley, 
who was lecturer in Greek at Merton College for years 
before he went out to serve his Queen as ambassador 
and returned to found the greatest university library 
in the world. The Anglican tradition was established 
with learning and eloquence by Bishop Jewel of Corpus 
and still more by his great pupil, Richard Hooker, Eng- 
land's most famous divine. Last but not least Christ 
Church was the home of Richard Hakluyt, whose loving 
care has preserved the memories of the Elizabethan 
adventurers, and who taught geography himself in 
Oxford as well as wrote of those who extended its limits. 
Christ Church also sent forth Sir Humphry Gilbert, the 
martyr among English colony founders, while his more 
fortunate half-brother, Sir Walter Raleigh, was educated 
at Oriel. Perhaps it was through this connection that 
he made the acquaintance of Harriot, the historian of his 
colony of Virginia, so unfortunate for the moment, so 



COLLEGES OF OXFORD 127 

rich ultimately in glorious results. Oxford did not 
retain so close a connection with the New World in the 
seventeenth century, but, besides Calvert already men- 
tioned, Penn 'of Christ Church, John Locke of Christ 
Church, and Oglethorpe of Corpus will ever bejremembered 
in America as founders in wholeorinpart, of Pennsylvania, 
Carolina and Georgia respectively. And it is not un- 
natural to mention in this same connection, George 
Grenville of Christ Church, whose ill-judged Stamp Act 
began the trouble which under Lord North became 
fatally aggravated; and Cecil Rhodes of Oriel who 
devoted his energies during life and his fortune after 
death to drawing closer the ties between the two great 
branches of the English-speaking race, because he saw in 
it an instrument for the promotion of peace and the 
improvement of the world. 

The transition in Oxford from the Reformation period 
to the seventeenth century is marked by the foundation 
of two colleges, Jesus (1571) and Wadham (1610). The 
first was founded by a Welshman and has always been 
closely identified with the Principality. The second is in a 
real sense the youngest Oxford college, for of those that 
rank below it in age, Pembroke (1624), Worcester (1714) 
and Hertford (1874) are refoundations of old Halls, and 
Keble (1870) lacks that self-government which, it must 
be said again, is of the essence of an Oxford college. 

The revival at the end of the sixteenth century filled 
to overflowing the old buildings, and with many colleges 
led to reconstruction on a greater scale; the period from 
i5oo to 1640 probably saw more building in Oxford than 
any other period of similar length before the great expan- 
sion in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. In the 



128 OXFORD OF TODAY 

buildings of this period the old Gothic style was still 
preserved, though Cambridge and London had already 
abandoned it for the classical style of Italy. Of this 
late Gothic, so characteristically English, by far the 
best example is the buildings of Wadham, admittedly 
among the most beautiful in Oxford and unique in the 
fact that they have been left unaltered for 300 years. 
And yet it was from Wadham that the genius of Sir 
Christopher Wren was produced, which finally drove out 
the old style, and made the new triumph, in Oxford as 
well as in London. Wadham has been peculiarly influ- 
ential in Oxford architecture, for its buildings have 
inspired its scholar and fellow, Sir Thomas Jackson, still 
happily living and working, in his designs for buildings for 
the University and for almost half the colleges during 
the last half century. 

The revived University had probably more students 
between 1600 and 1640 than at any other period, prece- 
dent or subsequent, until our own day after the Great 
War. And it was this restored Oxford which assumed a 
definite character which exercised a marked effect on 
English history, and which has been changed only in our 
own day, if it has been really changed at all. 

The determining genius in this change was William 
Laud, who came up to St. John's as scholar in 1590, 
became its President in 161 1, and who left it to rise to the 
highest rank in the English Church as Archbishop of 
Canterbury. He made Oxford learned, well ordered, 
better equipped with professors and buildings, but he 
also established finally that connection with "Church and 
King", which lost it the sympathy of half the nation and 
secured the enthusiastic devotion of the other half. 



COLLEGES OF OXFORD 129 

Under direct royal patronage, Laud built the second 
quadrangle of St. John's, with its garden front, "per- 
haps", as Andrew Lang says, "the most lovely thing in 
Oxford". St. John's long retained the cavalier tradition, 
perhaps it retains it still, and certainly the old toast 
quoted above is still drunk at all its gatherings; but the 
nineteenth century abolished most of the Laudian stat- 
utes, and probably even in his own college, the direct 
tradition has passed away. 

In the seventeenth century, however, it made Oxford 
the Royalist capital of England. From 1642 onwards 
Charles at Oxford faced the Parliament at London; the 
King himself had his quarters at Christ Church, Queen 
Henrietta Maria lived at Merton, and the colleges were 
largely given over to the courtiers — and their wives. Of 
the King's supporters perhaps it is only necessary to 
mention Prince Rupert, who was at St. John's, Edward 
Hyde, afterwards Earl of Clarendon, the first great 
English historian, who was at Magdalen Hall, and Jer- 
emy Taylor, most eloquent of English preachers, whom 
Laud, by a not very creditable job, brought from Cam- 
bridge to be a fellow of All Souls. But though the bulk of 
the University was Royalist, it is interesting to note that 
all the great leaders on the other side, except the greatest 
of them all, Cromwell, were Oxford men. "King" Pym 
was at Broadgates Hall, which became Pembroke College 
soon after he had left it, Hampden was at Magdalen, Sir 
John Eliot and Sir Harry Vane, the martyrs of the Parlia- 
ment under Charles I and Charles H, were at Exeter and 
Magdalen Hall respectively, the great scholar and lawyer 
Selden was at Hart Hall, which is merged in Hertford 
College, and Robert Blake, the greatest English Admiral 



130 OXFORD OF TODAY 

after Nelson, was at Wadham. And Oxford produced 
too some of the best known Puritan controversialists, 
Prynne of Oriel, who paid for the success of his Histrio- 
mastix by the loss of his ears, and John Owen, most 
prolific of preachers, who was for a time installed in the 
Deanery at Christ Church. 

When the Parliament had triumphed, Oxford for a 
short time was the centre of the scientific movement, 
which led to the foundation of the Royal Society in 1662. 
The greatest name in Oxford Science in the seventeenth 
century is that of a Cambridge man, William Harvey, the 
discoverer of the circulation of the blood , who was intruded 
by Charles I into the place of the Puritan Warden of 
Merton. But the movement in Oxford centred round 
another "intruded" Warden, John Wilkins, Oliver Crom- 
well's brother-in-law, who ruled at Wadham (1649-1658) 
and gathered round him the young scientific men of the 
day. Evelyn, the Diarist, who was himself at Balliol, 
describes his visit to the Wadham "lodgings", and how 
he met there "that prodigious young scholar, Mr. Chris- 
topher Wren", who migrated to All Souls in 1653 after four 
years at Wadham, but who returned later to his old 
college and resided there for some time as Savilian Pro- 
fessor first of Astronomy, then of Geometry. It has 
been said of him that he would have been the greatest 
of English mathematicians after Newton, had he not 
preferred to be the greatest of English architects. The 
Royal Society, incorporated in 1662, recognizes Wadham 
as "its cradle". Many other Oxford men took part in 
this scientific movement ; probably the only one generally 
known is Robert Boyle of Christ Church, quaintly de- 
scribed in his epitaph as "Father of Chemistry and brother 
of the Earl of Cork". 



COLLEGES OF OXFORD 131 

Even from a wordly point of view the triumph of the 
Restoration was a mixed blessing to Oxford. King James 
II, in his zeal for the Roman Church, trampled on all 
traditions and statutes in his endeavour to force his 
co-religionists into the University. Magdalen College 
especially suffered from his arbitrary acts. Because they 
refused to act illegally and accept his nominee as presi- 
dent, the President-elect of Magdalen, the fellows and 
the demies (i.e., scholars) were turned out; fortunately 
for them the King's bigotry had by this time so stirred 
England that doctrines of Divine Right no longer availed 
to save him. The President and fellows returned to 
their college, and James was driven from his kingdom, 
never to return. Magdalen still celebrates their "Resto- 
ration" every 25th of October, when the toast of the even- 
ing is "jus siium cuique". Magdalen at once had its 
reward in its next election of demies, when among the 17 
chosen, it gained not only a future archbishop and a fu- 
ture bishop, but two of those who were to play a leading 
part in politics of the next generation, though on opposite 
sides and in very different ways: Henry Sacheverell, the 
Tory, by a mere chance has found a place in all the his- 
tories; Joseph Addison, the Whig, is not only a political 
pamphleteer of the first rank, but one of the greatest 
names in English Literature. Magdalen, it may be noted, 
took Addison from Queen's, in accordance with the old 
Oxford tradition, which allows a man to migrate to 
"uberior fortuna" at another college, though migration, 
by almost unbroken custom, is not allowed without this 
motive. 

Of the eighteenth century in Oxford little need be said, 
and yet three of the greatest names in her history belong 



132 OXFORD OF TODAY 

to it. One of these, Edward Gibbon, is the most quoted 
witness against her; he says: "To the University of 
Oxford I acknowledge no obligation — I spent 14 months 
at Magdalen College; they proved the most idle and 
unprofitable of my whole life". But it must be remem- 
bered that Gibbon was in Oxford only 14 months, and 
that he went up before he was 15. John Wesley and 
Samuel Johnson entered Oxford about 30 years before 
Gibbon, and much as they differed, they both ac- 
knowledged their deep debt to their University. Wesley 
entered Christ Church in 1720, Johnson,^ Pembroke in 
1728. Wesley migrated as fellow to Lincoln in 1726, and 
resided nine years there; this academic period was the 
deciding period of his life. It was then that there was 
gathered round him the band of earnest young men who 
set themselves to restore the spiritual life of England, and 
who earned at Oxford the glorious nickname of "Metho- 
dists", because they so carefully followed all the rules of 
the Church for building up their own spiritual life. Charles 
Wesley, greatest of English hymn writers, a student of 
Christ Church like his brother, and George Whitfield, 
greatest of revivalists, a "servitor" of Pembroke, were the 
most famous of the little band. Though Dr. Johnson 
did not reside in Oxford so long as Wesley, his sympathy 
with it was closer. Wesley bade farewell to his Univer- 
sity with a sermon of solemn warning from the pulpit of 
St. Mary's; Johnson was a constant visitor, who never 
wearied of praising Oxford, and who held the doctorate 
she conferred on him to be the highest of his distinctions. 
It is impossible to describe better the spirit of Oxford 
and the relation of colleges to each other than in John- 
son's words: "There is here. Sir, such a spirit of progres- 



COLLEGES OF OXFORD 133 

sive emulation: the students are anxious to appear well 
to their tutors; the tutors are anxious to have their 
pupils appear well in the college ; the colleges are anxious 
to have their students appear well in the University". 
This is true still, though as Johnson goes on to say, "rules 
are sometimes ill-observed". 

It would be easy to quote other evidence of the love 
which Oxford men had for their University even in the 
eighteenth century; but there is no doubt that the general 
verdict must be unfavourable. Perhaps one more piece of 
evidence may be quoted from the life of the greatest of 
Oxford poets, Shelley, who was sent down from Univer- 
sity College in 181 1 for publishing his pamphlet on "The 
Necessity of Atheism". Even in less conservative days 
such an act might well have led to expulsion, and his 
college has since "built the tomb of the prophet she 
stoned" by accepting the beautiful statue of Shelley by 
Onslow Ford and giving it a splendid home. But the 
words of the poet's biographer Hogg to Shelley were 
nevertheless true, at least in part: Oxford "is a seat 
of learning, and I have a right to call it so. It is a 
seat in which learning sits very comfortably, as in an 
easy chair, and sleeps so soundly that neither you nor I 
nor anybody else can wake her". 

But the words were not altogether true. Ten years 
before Shelley came up, the Examination Statute had 
been passed which was to revolutionize Oxford in the 
nineteenth century. The credit for this mainly belongs to 
the heads of three colleges, Cyril Jackson of Christ 
Church, Eveleigh of Oriel, and Parsons of Balliol. It is 
curious that the two latter of these had both been at 
Wadham before being elected as fellows in the colleges 
over which they were finally to rule. 



134 OXFORD OF TODAY 

Christ Church during the darkest times had preserved 
some tradition of learning, and BalHol and Oriel were 
among the first to awake to the new spirit. The scholar- 
ships at Balliol had already in the early years of the nine- 
teenth century won the reputation they still hold of being 
"theblue ribbon of the public schools", and the fellowships 
at Oriel were for half a century at least, ranked equally 
high. The elections at Oriel brought to that college the 
band of men who initiated and carried on that religious 
revival, which above all others is called the "Oxford 
Movement". Certainly no other "movement" has ever 
been so completely associated with one college. Keble, 
the author of "The Christian Year", Pusey who gave his 
name to the Movement, Bishop Wilberforce who carried 
it out in the actual life of the Church, R. W. Church who 
was elected from Wadham in 1838, afterwards Dean of 
St. Paul's and historian of the Movement, and greatest 
of all, Newman, were all fellows there. It was in their 
association that they gained their strength, and for that 
association it is Oriel that rightly claims the credit; 
though the glory of John Keble is shared by Corpus, and 
that of John Henry Newman by Trinity. 

Oriel also had among its fellows thinkers of quite dif- 
ferent schools, for M. Arnold and Clough, the poets of 
doubt and religious uncertainty, were both elected 
from Balliol; and Thomas Hughes went out from Oriel 
to preach the robust Christianity of "Tom Brown's 
Schooldays", which he had learned from Dr. Arnold 
of Rugby, who like Keble had been elected from Corpus; 
Hughes had been greatly influenced too by the 
Broad Church views of Frederic Denison Maurice, who 
was a fellow of Exeter. It is natural to mention the 



COLLEGES OF OXFORD 135 

Oxford Movement first in speaking of the nineteenth 
century. But it is only one, though the chief, of 
the religious movements which have centred in Oxford 
during that period. It has remained a potent force in 
Oxford, though its centre passed from Oriel in the latter 
half of the century to Christ Church; the names of 
Liddon and Scott Holland, both Senior Students (i. e., 
fellows) of Christ Church stand high on the roll of Eng- 
lish preachers. Later on, the Lux Mundi School of 
Theologians had their centre in Keble College, founded in 
1870 by the supporters of the Oxford Movement, to 
honour the memory of Keble and to do something, by 
means of a common life for undergraduates, to lessen the 
cost of an Oxford education. But the best known of the 
Lux Mundi Theologians was Bishop Gore, who had been 
a Scholar of Balliol before he became a fellow of Trinity. 
At Balliol he had come under the influence of T. H. 
Green, later Professor of Moral Philosophy, the eflfect 
of whose teaching was very great in Oxford, alike among 
the theologians and among the philosophers, during the 
whole of the late Victorian period. 

The • High Church Movement is by no means the 
only one that has originated in the colleges of nineteenth 
century Oxford. Just after Newman had left Oxford 
and joined the Church of Rome, Richard Congreve re- 
turned from Rugby as a tutor to his old college of Wad- 
ham, and there founded the school of English Positivists. 
All the leading members of that little band, important 
out of all proportion to their numbers in both the intel- 
lectual and the political sphere, were members of Wad- 
ham together. Frederic Harrison still survives to fight 
with unabated vigour for the causes for which he fought 
70 years ago. 



136 OXFORD OF TODAY 

If any Oxford man of advancing years were asked what 
had been the most important changes at Oxford in his 
time, apart from the admission of women to the Univer- 
sity, he would almost certainly say they were the in- 
creased range of studies, especially in the direction of 
the Natural Sciences, the increased attention to research, 
and the increased interest, felt by graduates and by 
undergraduates alike, in the social problems of the day. 

The development of Natural Science cannot be 
associated especially with any college. Of necessity its 
teaching, involving special laboratories and expensive 
apparatus, must be organised from the centre and be- 
longs to the University rather than to the special col- 
leges. And the Oxford habit, whether justified or not, 
of passing over its own men for professorships in favour 
of men from other universities, has tended still further 
to make Science a non-college study. But perhaps three 
foundations may be especially mentioned as connected 
with it. Christ Church had already from the middle of 
the eighteenth century (and still has) thanks to the Lee 
benefaction, an endowment of its own for teaching 
Natural Science, and it was the personal influence of a 
Christ Church man, Sir Henry Acland, which triumphed 
over opposition and secured the erection of the New 
Museum. He had the unexpected support of Dr. Pusey 
and John Ruskin, both Christ Church men (though Rus- 
kin migrated later, as he himself quaintly said, from 
the "house of Christ" to the "body of Christ" — -Corpus 
Christi). Exeter College had the distinction of having 
among its fellows two of the most distinguished of recent 
Oxford Science professors, H. M. Moseley and Sir E. 
Ray Lankester, the latter having been originally a 



COLLEGES OF OXFORD 137 

Junior Student of Christ Church. It had already 
earlier in the century had among its members, Sir 
Charles Lyell, the founder of modern Geology, who had 
gained his first interest in the subject from the lectures of 
Dr. Buckland of Christ Church. Magdalen College 
has generously employed its great wealth to aid the 
Science work of the University; five of the Science pro- 
fessors are supported by it, while it contributes largely 
to the maintenance of the Botanic Garden, which lies 
on the opposite side of the High Street. A Magdalen 
Science professor, Dr. Sherrington, has just brought once 
more to Oxford the highest of British scientific honours, 
the presidency of the Royal Society. 

The development of Research in Oxford has been 
perhaps especially marked in the field of Archaeology. 
Sir Arthur Evans has been already mentioned. Almost 
equally famous is Sir William Ramsay of St. John's who 
has rediscovered Asia Minor and routed the "higher 
critics" of St. Luke. And the name of Professor Sayce of 
Queen's must not be forgotten, who has lived to see his 
archaeological discoveries, once laughed at, become part 
of the accepted foundations of the Ancient History of the 
Near East. 

But the work of the archaeologist as a rule appeals to 
few; the problems of wealth and poverty touch every 
section of the nation. The good Lord Shaftesbury, the 
pioneer in Factory Legislation, the Founder of the 
Ragged School Movement, who was a first-class man in 
1822 from Christ Church, was only an isolated figure, 
great though his influence was; the need for the in- 
telligent study of economic problems, and the duty of 
the universities to all classes of the community were the 



138 OXFORD OF TODAY 

message of Samuel Barnett of Wadham (coming up in 
1862) and Arnold Toynbee of Balliol. The premature 
death of the latter made the most important part of his 
influence to be the inspiration of his name; but Canon 
Barnett maintained for a whole generation the closest 
relations with Oxford, and devised and carried out the 
"settlement" of Toynbee Hall, which has been imitated in 
every part of the world. His own college is commemo- 
rated in the first hall of residence for students, "Wadham 
Hall", built in East London. He himself has a permanent 
memorial in Oxford in Barnett House, a centre of con- 
tinually growing importance for Social Study, which 
owed its existence especially to Sidney Ball, Fellow of 
St. John's, one of Oxford's younger pioneers in Social 
movements, unfortunately cut off just when his in- 
fluence was greatest. 

So far an attempt has been made to mention the more 
important of the "movements" with which the name of 
Oxford has been especially associated, and to connect 
them with the colleges to which their most important 
promoters belonged; but it is obvious that only a small 
fraction of the great names of Oxford have been men- 
tioned, and that some even of the first rank have been 
passed over. 

This was inevitable, for the man of letters is an indi- 
vidualist whose genius often works by itself, and does not 
join in "movements". This may explain why Cambridge, 
the mother of England's greatest poets (except Shake- 
speare) , has not affected the general life of England as Ox- 
ford has done. At all events, in spite of the splendid 
compliment to Oxford paid by the renegade Cantab, 
Dryden, when in 1681 he was fighting the battle of the 
Court against the Exclusion Bill and The Whigs, 



COLLEGES OF OXFORD 139 

Thebes did his green unknowing youth engage, 
He chooses Athens in his riper age, 

Oxford has to confess that at all events till the last half 
century, she has not had her share of the poets. Yet 
some few may be mentioned, in addition to those whose 
names have already been introduced. 

If Oxford cannot claim the greatest of the Elizabethans, 
Shakespeare, Marlowe, Spenser and Bacon, of whom the 
last three were at Cambridge, yet she trained at Christ 
Church Sir Philip Sidney, whose life was a poem even 
more perfect than his works, and she had her full share of 
the minor dramatists; Beaumont was at Broadgates 
Hall, Ford was at Exeter, Lodge at Trinity, Lyly at 
Magdalen, Marston at Brasenose, Shirley at St. John's; 
it may be noted as not unnatural, that several of these 
poets never succeeded in getting a degree. The poet 
preacher John Donne, whose reputation has varied more 
from century to century than that of any other English 
writer, was at Hart Hall, though he finally took his degree 
at Cambridge, and Henry Vaughan, the Silurist, was at 
Jesus. The poets of the eighteenth century are not now 
much accounted of, but at the end of that century Oxford 
began to produce an abundant crop of (at any rate) minor 
poets. Southey, certainly not a "minor" poet in output, 
whatever be thought of his merit, was at Balliol, while in 
Dean Milman and Bishop Heber Brasenose claims two of 
our greatest hymn writers. And in Victorian days, besides 
Matthew Arnold and Clough already mentioned, Swin- 
burne was at Balliol and William Morris at Exeter; his 
connection with that college is commemorated in its 
Chapel by the glorious tapestry of "The Visit of the 
Magi", worked by him from the designs of his college 



140 OXFORD OF TODAY 

friend Burne-Jones. Nor should Robert Montgomery be 
forgotten who, thanks to Macaulay's review, is the 
strongest candidate among English poets for "the wooden 
spoon"; Macaulay must have enjoyed "smashing" him all 
the more, because he was an Oxford "poet"; he had been 
at Lincoln, and wrote one of his worst poems on Oxford 
itself. Among present day Oxford poets must at least 
be mentioned Robert Bridges, Poet Laureate, who was 
at Corpus. 

It is natural to pass from poets to essayists, and to 
mention first the name of Sir Richard Steele, the friend of 
Addison, who, like a good Whig, was at Merton, always a 
Whig college in the seventeenth century ; he presented his 
"Tatler" to the College Library, according to the good 
old rule of filial piety, which all Oxford authors should 
follow, though too many do not. Sir Thomas Browne and 
Walter Savage Landor, though not essayists, may be 
grouped with this class; the most literary of our physi- 
cians was at Broadgates Hall at the time when it became 
Pembroke College, and the most irritable of our stylists 
quarrelled with his neighbours and was sent down from 
Trinity, just as he quarrelled with most people in later 
life. More genuine essayists in the ordinary sense were 
Francis Jeffery, the editor of the Edinburgh Review in its 
greatest days, who was at Queen's; his staunch sup- 
porter Sydney Smith, the witty Whig canon of St. Paul's, 
who did something to redeem New College from the com- 
fortable obscurity in which it rested in the seventeenth 
and eighteenth centuries; and above all the "English 
Opium Eater", De Quincey, who was at Worcester. Per- 
haps, too, mention should be made of the versatile An- 
drew Lang, poet and anthropologist, critic and journal- 
ist, who was elected from Balliol to Merton. 



COLLEGES OF OXFORD 141 

The English noveUsts mainly did not come from the 
University, and the greatest name that Oxford can pro- 
duce is that of Charles Reade, who was for many years a 
fellow of Magdalen. The names of Quiller Couch and 
A. E. W. Mason, who were at Trinity, have not yet the 
"enchantment lent by distance to the view". 

In pure letters then it may be admitted that despite 
the great names of Addison, Johnson, and Shelley, Oxford 
does not claim many writers of the very highest rank. 
But in what may be called "applied letters", she more 
than holds her own. Philosophy in all its branches has 
always been Oxford's special study. Some of the greatest 
schoolmen, e.g., Duns Scotus and William of Ockham 
belong to her; but they lived in the pre-college period, and 
Merton's claim to Duns Scotus is about as unauthentic 
as the portrait of him that hangs in the College Hall — it 
is impossible to say more. The two great leaders in 
philosophic thought in the seventeenth century, Hobbes 
and Locke, were both Oxford men, Hobbes at Magdalen 
Hall, Locke at Christ Church; the philosophic champion 
of Whig political doctrine resided for years at the latter 
college, from which he was finally expelled by a cringing 
subservience to the royal mandate of Charles H. A still 
greater name is that of Joseph Butler who came up to 
Oriel in 1715, and there made the acquaintance of the 
future Lord Chancellor, Talbot, which secured for the 
greatest of English moral philosophers that opening in the 
Church which his own merit might easily have failed to 
obtain. Later on in the century, Bishop Berkeley, though 
not an Oxford man, retired there to die and is buried 
in Christ Church. Other eighteenth century philosophers 
are Adam Smith, who is the most eminent of the many 



142 OXFORD OF TODAY 

able Scotchmen whom the Snell foundation has sent from 
Glasgow to Balliol, and Jeremy Bentham, who a little 
later came up to Queen's; but it must be confessed that 
he speaks of his Alma Mater almost as bitterly as Gibbon 
himself. The philosophic school of Professor Green has 
already been mentioned; it had its centre in Balliol 
under the famous Master, Benjamin Jowett, who, if 
he were not himself among the philosophers, may fairly 
rank as one, for he has made the greatest of Greek philoso- 
phers, Plato, an English classic. 

History like Philosophy belongs to applied literature, 
though perhaps the most modern school of historians 
would deny that History had anything at all to do with 
Literature, and so would make light of men whom Oxford 
at all events claims as distinguished in that branch of 
learning. The world is likely to agree with Oxford against 
the specialist, and to give the praise of being historians 
to Freeman who was at Trinity and to his great rival, 
Froude who was at Oriel, both in succession Regius Pro- 
fessors of History. Freeman sat at the scholars' table 
at Trinity with his predecessor in the History Pro- 
fessorship, William Stubbs, and from the same table some 
15 years later Lord Bryce was elected to a fellowship at 
Oriel, while about the same time A. V. Dicey, equally 
eminent with him as publicist and as historian, was 
elected fellow at Trinity. 

But it is for the practical walks of life that Oxford has 
especially trained her sons. Lawyers and statesmen, 
both lay and ecclesiastical, it is these especially whom 
Oxford claims. 

To mention briefly the Church first, three of the last 
Archbishops of Canterbury have been Oxford men, two 



COLLEGES OF OXFORD 143 

of them from Balliol, a college which might easily have 
had a third in Manning, had he not left the English 
Church, and so won the Cardinal's purple while he lost 
the chair of St. Augustine. 

Next in precedence to the Archbishop of Canterbury 
comes the Lord Chancellor, and there must be few of the 
colleges of Oxford which have not sent at least one son to 
the Woolsack. Of the Whig Chancellors of the seven- 
teenth century the first Lord Shaftesbury, the "Achito- 
phel" who extorted from Dryden the unwilling praise 

the statesman we abhor but praise the judge, 

was at Exeter, and in the next generation the great Lord 
Somers was at Trinity. Of the opposite school the 
typical Tory, Lord Eldon, was at University, where he 
had been preceded by his brother. Lord Stowell, still more 
distinguished as a jurist, the founder of Modern Naval 
Prize Law. Though he never reached the Woolsack, Lord 
Mansfield of Christ Church ranks among the very great- 
est of English lawyers,. and local patriotism may justify 
me in specially mentioning Lord Birkenhead, Wadham's 
second Lord Chancellor. 

As for Prime Ministers and Governors General of 
India, Christ Church alone had nine of the former in the 
nineteenth century, including George Canning, the co- 
founder of the Monroe Doctrine, Sir Robert Peel, and 
W. E. Gladstone, while the same foundation has sent 
eight of its sons to rule India, among them the greatest of 
all British "Imperial Proconsuls", Lord Wellesley. And 
Balliol has rivalled Christ Church in recent years in 
giving to the public service, H. H. Asquith, Lord Curzon, 
Lord Milner and Lord Grey of Fallodon, not to mention 



144 OXFORD OF TODAY 

the late Sir Cecil Spring Rice, who represented Great 
Britain at Washington during the critical years of the 
Great War. 

To write of the great men of Oxford as a whole is a 
hopeless task. The list must of necessity be incomplete, 
and tends to be a mere catalogue of names. But in each 
college the memory of those who have gone before is an 
ever present inspiration, kept before men's minds by the 
collections of portraits which hang in every college hall; 
that of Christ Church is unique: there 

England's greatest deck the wall, 
Prelate and statesman, prince and poet, 
Who hath an ear let him hear them call. 

This is true in a less degree of every college. The glorious 
past merges in the happy present, to give young men 
those surroundings which England holds her best educa- 
tional gift. 

An attempt has been made to indicate the past of each 
college; but what of their present state? Here it may be 
said that a practical dilemma confronts any one who 
would attempt to describe colleges as they are. Either 
he is a member of the college himself, and so his testi- 
mony is suspect of partiality (and besides who can write 
intimately of the intimate concerns of what is really a 
great family?), or he is an outsider, and cannot really 
know what goes on within the walls of another founda- 
tion. And there is another and obvious difficulty in 
describing present-day colleges; they are not historical 
specimens, but living and growing institutions, and their 
tone and temper change from generation to generation, 
and even from year to year. 

Yet perhaps one or two broad features may be indi- 



COLLEGES OF OXFORD 145 

cated as specially marking certain colleges. There was a 
period, not so very long ago, when it might have been 
said without fear of contradiction that the sons of the 
English House of Lords went to Christ Church; of course 
even in those days men of the highest birth were found 
elsewhere ; but it would have been true to claim that the 
majority of the "Tufts" (peers' sons then wore a special 
cap) were to be found at the "House". Probably Christ 
Church still has more of this class than any other founda- 
tion, but Balliol, New College and Magdalen, not to 
mention other colleges, have undoubtedly attracted 
considerable numbers of them. Edward VH was once 
an undergraduate at Christ Church and the present 
Prince of Wales was at Magdalen. 

Again a marked distinction which would "be broadly 
recognised in Oxford, is that certain colleges are "public 
school colleges". The line is almost as indeterminate as 
that which marks off the "public schools" themselves. 
Properly speaking in England any school that is not the 
property of an individual or a family, but has its own 
body of governors, its traditions, and (probably) some 
old endowments, is a "public school"; but the name is 
often confined to some twenty or thirty of the more con- 
spicuous schools of this class. While in America a 
"public school" is the name rightly given to the schools 
provided for and open to all, in England the name tends 
to belong to the schools for the boys of one class only. 
Which are, however, the "public schools" in this sense 
would be warmly disputed, so far as regards the lower 
limit, though all would agree that certain schools were 
undoubtedly "public". 

So with regard to colleges. There is certainly no col- 



146 OXFORD OF TODAY 

lege in Oxford where public school men in the strictest 
sense are not to be found ; there is no college which has a 
position of admitted superiority, and there are no col- 
leges which do not from time to time have some of the 
best men, whatever standard of "best" be adopted. 

But speaking generally it may be said that University, 
Oriel, Brasenose and Trinity,^ in addition to the four 
colleges mentioned above as the special colleges of the 
English aristocracy, are the "public school" colleges of 
Oxford. 

And this has an important bearing on the athletic side 
of college life, a side which plays so large a part in Ox- 
ford's view of itself and in the views held about it by the 
world outside. The English public schools are the great 
maintainers of the athletic traditions of the country, 
and hence those colleges which draw most from them, 
have as a rule the greatest athletic reputation. This of 
course varies in the different fields. In rowing, pre- 
eminently the Oxford sport, which gives a permanent 
and tangible memorial of success in the headship of the 
river, three colleges certainly at present are prominent. 
New College, Magdalen and Christ Church. Eton has a 
place among rowing schools to which "nihil est simile aut 
secundum", and the college to which the majority of the 
members of the Eton eight go, will always be high, if not 
highest, on the river. It is rather sad to see how speciali- 
zation here as elsewhere tends to destroy much of the 
interest of athletics. Half a century ago and even more 
recently, any man of weight, pluck and good lungs could 
expect to be made a good oar, and might aspire to the 

1 Colleges here and elsewhere, when mentioned together, are put in 
their chronological order. 



COLLEGES OF OXFORD 147 

coveted rowing "blue". Now it is very rare for a man 
to get his seat in the University eight who has not been 
trained at one of the rowing schools, and Eton will 
probably furnish each year about half the crews of the 
rival Universities. And this of course has another effect; 
it is much harder for a man to learn rowing at Oxford 
than it used to be ; if the trained oars are concentrated in 
a few colleges, obviously the river "coaching" at places 
outside the circle of that few, will suffer. Colleges are 
kind to each other and lend their "blues", but they can- 
not inspire in those they lend the devoted interest in 
their rowing pupils which has made the lives of many 
men in Oxford centre in attempts to improve their own 
college boat; "Miller" of "Tom Brown at Oxford" is a 
much rarer type than of old. 

No other sport is so specialized as rowing, and the 
cricket blues are far more distributed now than they 
were fifty years ago, when Brasenose had eight men in 
the Oxford eleven for two years in succession. Here 
Oriel certainly must be mentioned as a college with a 
cricket reputation equal to any, superior to almost all. 
Cricket, however, is fortunately an art which can be 
learned on a village green as well as on a public school 
"big side", if the future player has that genius for the 
game without which no first-class cricketer can be made. 
Football, in both its kinds, is even more democratic, and 
here undoubtedly Queen's and St. John's must be added 
to the list of the athletic colleges. The sturdy sons of the 
North, whom hereditary connection and well placed en- 
dowments always bring to Queen's in large numbers, have 
the tradition of Rugby football strong in them. Of ath- 
letics in the strict sense, i.e., of "track racing" and jump- 



148 OXFORD OF TODAY 

ing, etc., it is not necessary to speak much; they, like 
golf and lawn tennis, depend more on the performance of 
the individual than on team work. Hence it does not 
matter so much for these sports to what college a man 
goes, or what school he comes from. If he can do the 
Quarter in "level time" or clear five feet eight inches in 
the High Jump, he is sure of recognition ; his performance 
is known to all and is itself sufficient to bring him out ; he 
does not need to attract the attention of the captain of 
the University football team. 

And this fact has an important bearing on the choice 
of a college. This is too often made on an absolute rule 
as if of necessity that college which was best for one 
man, was best for all. It certainly is not so. This is true 
of other matters as well as of sports, of debating and liter- 
ary societies as well as of athletic clubs. But it is easiest 
to illustrate it from the latter class of societies. A man 
naturally wants to make the most of his Oxford career, 
and he may especially hope to distinguish or at least to 
develop himself on his athletic side. If he be really good, 
one (to use a colloquialism) "in the running for a blue", 
he will do well to go, if he can get admittance, to one of 
the athletic colleges ; he will there get to know the men 
who have the disposal of these coveted honours. But if 
he be only an ordinary performer in some line of sport, no 
matter what, with neither hopes nor desires to "represent 
his University", he will do well to choose one of the 
smaller or less athletic colleges; gifts that would be not 
wanted, and so might be ignored at a college rich in 
"blues", would be valued and given full scope elsewhere. 
And as has been said before, he will meet good men every- 
where; no college in Oxford is permanently "out of it". 



COLLEGES OF OXFORD 149 

as is said to be the case with some foundations in other 
universities. 

This has a bearing also, that perhaps might not be 
expected, on a man's college life as a whole. Since young 
Englishmen are what they are, they learn to know each 
other most easily by playing together. A little athletic 
skill has given many men their chance. An Oxford col- 
lege in some ways is the most democratic of communities ; 
it values a man for what he is, and not for what he has; 
but a small trick of manner, an unusual accent, a pecu- 
liarity of dress may prevent a man being known at first ; 
if he is at all athletic, he gets in a small college a chance of 
showing what he really is. And then men ignore the 
small peculiarities which made them at first stand ofif. 

But important as athletics are in a young man's life, 
the object of a university is to train the intellect. And 
here it may certainly be asserted that Balliol has been 
for the last half century and more, the leading college, 
at any rate, as judged by the result of examination tests; 
this is especially the case in the old traditional classical 
schools. New College and Corpus, Trinity and St. 
John's sometimes carry off the Hertford or the Ireland 
Scholarships, but Balliol can almost "play the field" in 
the competition for these. It would hardly be said, 
however, that its superiority was equally great in other 
departments of learning; here honours are much more 
evenly distributed. There is comparatively little 
specialization in subjects at the Oxford colleges; but 
Science naturally is most cultivated in those places where 
special facilities exist for its study, and Queen's, Magda- 
len, Christ Church, Balliol, and Jesus have well equipped 
laboratories of their own. 



150 OXFORD OF TODAY 

Fifty years ago a man received his instruction in 
Oxford almost entirely within the walls of his own college ; 
now the lectures everywhere are open to all. But it is the 
tutorial system which gives the individual intercourse and 
personal influence which count for so much in Oxford 
education, and this a college furnishes. Of this, how- 
ever, it is impossible to speak generally; he who would 
know what a college tutor is worth can only learn it 
from his pupils, and by no means always from them. 

To become a real partaker in the life of a college is per- 
haps as happy a lot as ever falls to a young man. It gives 
freedom but not too much, it gives beautiful surround- 
ings, it blends, as has been said, the inspiration of a great 
past with the keen interest of the present. Above all a 
man by entering an Oxford college becomes a member of 
a society eager to appreciate his successes, ready to sym- 
pathize with his disappointments. As in a room full 
of mirrors, every object is indefinitely repeated, so in 
the life of a college a man's own life is intensified. One 
prominent in his college has power but not too much, 
responsibility that is not crushing, opportunities of suc- 
cess in many fields. Who can wonder that to many men 
their college years are the happiest period of their 
existence, when there are round them 

Strong affections binding fast 

The flying terms with links of gold. 



CHAPTER VIII 

SOCIAL LIFE AND ACTIVITIES AT THE 
UNIVERSITY 

By R. P. Coffin, B.Litt., Maine and Trinity, 'i6 

Know you her secret none can utter, 
Hers of the Book, the tripled Crown, 

Still on the spire the pigeons flutter. 
Still by the gateway flits the gown; 

Still on the street, from corbel and gutter 
Faces of stone look down. 

Yet if at length you seek her, prove her, 
Lean to her whispers never so nigh ; 

Yet if at last not less her lover 

You in your hansom leave the High; 

Down from her towers a ray shall hover — 
Touch you, a passer-by. 

The colleges of Oxford have empty niches in their 
"walls. So also the life of the University of colleges ofifers 
niches for men of every sort — scholastic, athletic, 
literary, artistic, political, musical, or merely normal. 
Whatever your gifts, your views or your tastes, there is 
here a place to display them, and probably some one to 
appreciate. 

As the University is primarily a group of colleges, you 
will find at the outset of your undergraduate career, that 



152 OXFORD OF TODAY 

the main path to your desired niche will lie through your 
college. Social life will at first probably be nearly synony- 
mous with college life, — at least until you have found 
friends beyond your own gate and walls. After you have 
doffed the gown, cap, white tie, and dark suit of matricu- 
lation, and put away the Latin certificate between the 
leaves of your Excerpta e Statutis, you will live principally 
in and with your college. Even in "Schools" — at the end 
of your university career — you will be upholding the 
scholastic prestige of your college. As in America the 
undergraduate glorifies his fraternity by excelling in 
college studies or sports, so in Oxford he glorifies his 
college in winning a "blue" or in taking a "First". 

Within the college, social life (so far as it is organized) 
centres mainly in various clubs or societies — informal 
bodies having no special rooms, and meeting now and 
then in the rooms of the members. Every college has its 
debating society, with frequent meetings for debates 
which often call forth speakers with an astonishing 
amount of wit and fluency in discussing general subjects 
of wide variety. Then there is commonly a literary club, 
whose members read papers on Crashaw, Swinburne, 
Casanova, Butler, Poe, or other men of silver. After the 
paper, a general discussion will follow in which men just 
out of their teens become as confidently critical as a 
middle-aged reviewer. Some other college clubs are 
frankly convivial only, flockings of birds of a feather who 
delight in eating and drinking well. There may be a 
religious or theological society, where points of dogma are 
debated as realities. Men of different political beliefs — 
and with the English undergraduate politics go deeper 
than with the American — band together in different 



SOCIAL LIFE AND ACTIVITIES 153 

associations. Those musically inclined may meet at def- 
inite times and places, to the discomfiture of their neigh- 
bors. Men of law combine in moot clubs. An Oxford 
undergraduate will scarcely find another person also en- 
thusiastically interested in the things he himself likes, 
before — presto — there is a club, with a president, 
secretary-treasurer, and minutes! The love of talk, and 
especially of witty talk, is strong. And of an evening 
when clubs are not meeting, your rooms will like as not 
be full of friends, who love to smoke your tobacco and 
keep you from your books. 

Moving from the college world to the larger social 
group of the University of which it forms but a part, you 
will again find social activities chiefly gathered about 
more and larger clubs and associations. These range 
from the Union — embracing more than half the Univer- 
sity and supporting a large and luxurious establishment — 
to small and casual groups of congenial or loquacious 
spirits meeting now and then for a dinner, or a discus- 
sion, in one another's rooms. 

The Union — the most famous of all University asso- 
ciations — was founded early in the nineteenth century. 
Although at times in its history it has tended to be exclu- 
sive, the main interest of the Society has always been 
forensic. For many decades now it has been open to all 
who care to join, and its aim has been to provide place and 
opportunity for airing political views. There are weekly 
debates throughout the year, mainly on political ques- 
tions. Members present vote upon the question, and 
their verdict is reported in the newspapers of London and 
the provinces. Many men who lead the political and 
diplomatic destinies of the Empire received a first lesson 



154 OXFORD OF TODAY 

of confidence and debating skill in the Union — among 
such have been Asquith and Lord Bryce. The un- 
dergraduate debaters display considerable finish and 
style, and the proceedings of the evening are conducted 
in a dignified, or even pretentious manner, in a large hall 
arranged like the House of Commons. It is not surprising 
that prominent men of the nation — from ex-Prime Min- 
isters and Cabinet members to Labour M.P.'s, feel it 
worth their while to address the Union in debate. Lloyd 
George himself, in the pre-war days when he was thought 
a fit target for a Conservative carrot, has pounded its 
despatch-box with ministerial vigor. Probably the 
greatest undergraduate honour is to be chosen president 
of the Union. Americans are proud to remember that 
two of their number have already achieved this distinc- 
tion.^ The Society has a set of buildings and grounds 
just off Cornmarket Street, where are the debating 
hall, an excellent reading and reference library of more 
than 50,000 volumes, periodical, billiard and dining 
rooms. 

Debating and public discussion is not only the princi- 
pal interest of the Union — it is one of the chief and 
most popular activities of the undergraduate Univer- 
sity. Indeed the amount of more or less formal argu- 
mentation at Oxford, all done voluntarily as a pleasure 
and intellectual sport, astounds the American student. 
Debating in American universities too often is a tedious 
artificial exercise in facts and figures, confined to a 
handful of overstudious or otherwise abnormal under- 
graduates, and ignored or looked down upon by the vast 

1 W. J. Bland, Ohio and Lincoln, 1910; killed in action, 1918: and R. 
M. Corson, Michigan and Oriel, 1918. 



SOCIAL LIFE AND ACTIVITIES 155 

majority. Instruction in debating and the fostering of 
"debating teams" have not materially altered this atti- 
tude. In Oxford, on the contrary, there is no instruction ; 
there are no debating teams and no prize speaking con- 
tests, but scores of good and hundreds of mediocre de- 
baters. The Oxford test of good debating is not the 
precise presentation of facts and figures, but the original 
and clever expression of ideas. An epigram outweighs 
the encyclopedia. Union debates are reported and criti- 
cized in detail by the University weeklies; the clever 
speakers win their way to fame and popularity. Be- 
cause of this interest one hears more of genuine public 
argument and of keen, witty, and graceful speaking by 
undergraduates than in our American universities. 

One of the most important societies — the British- 
American Club — has been born since the war. The 
Master of Balliol, a tireless worker for harmony between 
America and England, was its sponsor, and is its per- 
manent president. The Club's purpose is to promote 
mutual understanding and friendship between the two 
nations. Membership is limited to 300, and is divided 
about equally between Englishmen, Americans, and men 
from the overseas dominions of the Empire. Large pub- 
lic meetings, addressed by prominent workers for inter- 
national amity, are held terminally. Besides these, and 
perhaps more important, are the groups in which men 
interested in special matters such as international law, 
educational schemes, labor conditions, international 
finance, etc., meet frequently for discussion. In Oxford 
there are so many men who can speak with authority 
upon these timely topics that the Club has exceptional 
advantages. In the present unsettled state of world 



156 OXFORD OF TODAY 

affairs, the need for the serious study of these things 
cannot be denied. And when citizens of different nations 
meet and confer upon them, the study is bound to 
be fruitful of broader ideas. Hence there is significance 
in the founding of this new Club. Naturally the idea 
behind the brave attempt of the League of Nations, or 
some similar practical international association to pre- 
vent misunderstandings and wars, is the earnest aim of 
the Club. But there is no propaganda — only discussion, 
among persons having no exaggerated idea of their own 
importance. The Club maintains reading, lounging, and 
dining rooms in the City. It already has a counterpart 
at Cornell and seems destined to have them in other 
American universities. 

To such a university as Oxford there is bound to be an 
international complexion. At least one-fifth of the 
undergraduates come from beyond the British Isles. 
Consequently there abound national and international 
clubs. 

Most American undergraduates (largely Rhodes Schol- 
ars) are members of the American Club, which holds 
weekly meetings throughout term-time in its room.s on 
George Street. There are debates on questions of the 
day — ^but these are not too sedate; the true purpose of 
the Club is social, and the debates frequently become 
sessions of wit and repartee between North and South 
or East and West or between mere individuals repre- 
senting nothing but their own shameless brilliancy. The 
old favorites of football and baseball are annually revdved 
— for one day each. An Oxford field, at all other times 
sacred to cricket, is trampled by American football, when 
the old men meet the new. But seriously, the meeting 



SOCIAL LIFE AND ACTIVITIES 157 

of Americans from every part of the Union in this Club 
brings immense advantages in the liberalization of those 
who take part. And what is that but a step toward the 
realization of Rhodes' ideals? 

There is also a Colonial Club, composed of men from 
the overseas dominions and colonies — the majority of 
them Rhodes scholars. This also is a social, rather than 
a merely sectional, organization. A very able French 
Club flourishes, and is one of the most practical of the 
national societies. Its meetings are conducted, and ably 
too, in French; and a general effort made to make the 
appeal of the Entente Cordiale a living matter. The 
membership of the Club is not confined to Frenchmen. 
The many native students from India have their organi- 
ization ; as do also the Serbs, who came to the university 
in considerable numbers during the war. 

Recently the political field of the University has been 
enlivened by the organization of a Labour Club, which 
attracts able speakers to the City and maintains a period- 
ical — The New Oxford — in which are shown visions of a 
new heaven and a new earth beyond the troublesome 
miasmas of the Thames valley. 

Still newer is the Studio Club, for members of the 
University interested in art, and in the creation of art. 
Actual work is done, and exhibitions held. 

One of the most ambitious of the clubs is the Oxford 
University Dramatic Society. A play is presented 
annually. Com.petition is keen, and the productions are 
well given. In 1920 the Society presented Hardy's 
"Dynasts", the author himself assisting at the opening 
performance. 

The old favorites abide. Vincent's still presides over 



158 OXFORD OF TODAY 

the athletic destinies of the University. Socially this is 
perhaps the "Club of Clubs" at Oxford; it is made up 
chiefly of men who have led in representing the Univer- 
sity against Cambridge. It is the house of "blues", and 
the home of fame, sheltered in modest rooms on High 
Street, where its members dine in state. Recently an 
Achilles Club has united "blues" of track and field from 
both Oxford and Cambridge in rendezvous at Queen's 
Club, London. A club with less of the aureole of fame 
but even more of the spirit of jovial enjoyment of life is 
the Gridiron. The membership of this, too, is limited; 
and there are those who consider an invitation to join 
as the crowning glory of an undergraduate career. Cer- 
tainly its frank devotion to the pleasanter side of life 
gives it a unique place in the University. 

As something of a protest from the aristocratic set, 
always to be found at Oxford, against the democracy of 
intercollegiate and intervarsity sport, stands the Bulling- 
don. Its mem_bers pursue the pleasure of old English fox 
hunting and racing; you may catch a glimpse of their 
"pink" coats and pipe-clayed breeches as they take the 
hedges on the hills about Bicester, or meet them on their 
splendid horses following the hounds over October 
ploughlands near Banbury. Horses and hounds are their 
matters, and they are sincere in their endeavor to perpet- 
uate English sporting tradition of the older type. So 
their dining uniforms still flourish, and their sumptuous 
dinners. 

An organization which might seem to be similar (but 
is not) is the Trinity-Magdalen-New College Beagles — a 
forbidding title but a democratic association which pro- 
motes a picturesque and strenuous pastime. Americans 



SOCIAL LIFE AND ACTIVITIES 159 

may think of horses and hunting coats here. But there 
are no horses; the huntsman runs on his own legs and 
wears old clothes proof against brooks and briars, 
ploughland and hedges. There are rules of the game — 
you must not crawl through a hedge ahead of the Master 
of the Hounds; but in the main it is a hare-and-hounds 
race with a real hare and real hounds. In its course you 
come into close intimacy with English nature, and at its 
end you tramp home weary and aglow. 

Talk and clubs are not the only activities of Oxford. 
There are literary ventures for those who care for them, 
and publications to suit all tastes. The Oxford Magazine 
still stalks conservatively ; and the Isis has revived from 
its war-retirement with a new good humor and irre- 
sponsibility. The Cherwell is another, and newer, weekly. 
There is no daily paper of the University. Every term 
sees new weekly sheets that seldom survive beyond the 
second issue; the wit of the place finding an easy outlet 
in these mayfly publications. The serious spirit in 
America which prompts college men to publish and 
support a "pure" newspaper is not in evidence at Oxford ; 
if such a paper were to appear it would doubtless die 
young. On the other hand the undergraduates rejoice in 
the exercise of the critical faculty, and are willing to say 
the last word on music, drama, letters, and sport. But 
one should not take them too seriously — they would not 
expect it. There is much verse published from time to 
time during the year — some of it given to the world in 
book form through the kindly work of Blackwell, mid- 
wife publisher to fledgling poets. 

In religious life, Oxford is officially Anglican; that is 
to say, the services in the college chapels and in St. 



i6o OXFORD OF TODAY 

Mary's, the University church, are Anglican. But 
students of other denominations have ample opportuni- 
ties of attending their respective services; the colleges 
show them every consideration and attendance at chapel 
is not insisted upon from those who have objections on 
religious grounds. The Congregationalists have a re- 
ligious centre at Mansfield College; and the Unitarians 
at Manchester College. Roman Catholic orders main- 
tain two halls affiliated with the University; and there 
is also a Roman Catholic chapel for undergraduates of 
that Church. 

But if exercise of mind, and tongue and pen, is easy 
at Oxford, exercise of the body is essential. The climate, 
especially in winter, is none too invigorating ; the Thames 
valley is very damp and fogs are frequent. You must 
exercise, or perish. So there are the flourishing sports of 
the University. Oxford, one may say, has at least ap- 
proached the Athenian ideal of perfect education — equal 
for mind and for body; for her undergraduates give the 
afternoon of each day to the playing fields. Much has 
been written about the system of athletics in English 
universities. There is, however, nothing more serious or 
scientific to this system than getting all the good one can, 
in health and in fun, out of one's exercise. Everyone goes 
in for some sport at Oxford, not- because it is required 
(for it is not), but merely because one likes to play golf, 
football, tennis, or some other of the many games. And 
everyone plays hard and has a very good time of it. 
There are fewer spectators in the stands and more 
athletes in the fields at Oxford or at Cambridge than at 
any other university in the world. You will be amazed 



SOCIAL LIFE AND ACTIVITIES i6i 

to see a mere handful of spectators at an important Rugby 
match; those who might be spectators are elsewhere 
playing some game of their own. Organized cheering has 
been heard of only by newspaper echo from America; 
good playing by friend or foe is calmly applauded. 

There is indeed no counterpart at Oxford of the late- 
Roman gladiatorial combats which delight the sporting 
writers in the United States. There are no high-salaried 
experts hired to train a few picked men into victor- 
ious teams, leaving the f?t and idle thousands to 
look on and cheer. The men who make up Oxford teams 
have played previously on college teams in the many con- 
tests within the University; they have no paid coach, 
but only the advice of an occasional veteran who gives it 
gratis. "Training", as Americans understand the word, is 
known only in rowing, or for a very brief period before a 
track contest. Even the varsity Rugby team scarcely 
practises — but prepares itself for Cambridge by playing 
dozens of games with other teams. 

The varsity sports of Oxford are: rowing, Rugby 
football, association football, track and field athletics, 
cricket, field hockey, tennis, golf, swimming, boxing, 
lacrosse, and fencing. Those who represent the Univer- 
sity against Cambridge in any of the first five of these 
sports are awarded a "blue", if they be of the first string; 
if they be of the second string, or if the sport is other than 
one of the first six, they receive the "half-blue". To win a 
blue is to win the right to wear the University color (dark 
blue) with the insignia appropriate to the particular 
sport. Its most usual expression is a blazer of the Uni- 
versity hue, with the insignia embroidered in white upon 



1 62 OXFORD OF TODAY 

the breast pocket. The half-blue blazer is of blue and 
white stripes. 

The details of the universal scheme of athletics at 
Oxford are accomplished not through the varsity teams 
and matches, but through the colleges. For each college 
has its crews, and its football, track, cricket, hockey, 
tennis, and golf teams. In rowing, football, hockey, and 
the rest, there are long and hotly contested intercollegiate 
schedules. There may be a cup to change hands from year 
to year; or there may be only a mythical cup. The sport 
is none the less keen, and there are so many colleges, and 
so many teams and games, that everyone, be he ever so 
humble, gets his chance. If your "rugger" captain rejects 
you as hopeless, the hockey captain may find in you a 
star. These intercollegiate matches, and the preliminary 
games of the varsity, are generally the only contests dur- 
ing term time. Cambridge is met on neutral ground 
in London during the vacations. Long journeys to dis- 
tant cities, luxurious hotels, and swarms of coaches and 
trainers are generally unknown to Oxford varsity men. 

Each term is enlivened by a "major" sport. Michael- 
mas has "rugger" (Rugby football) — a game so developed 
that the American will hardly recognize it from the de- 
scription in Tom Brown at Rugby. The sides are now lim- 
ited to fifteen men. To one mindful of American foot- 
ball, with its one-point attack, magnificent kicking, and 
carefully planned offensive tactics and code signals, 
rugger may seem like nothing but an indiscriminate run- 
ning-wrestling match. But there are rules and science 
enough behind this chaos to make it exceedingly difhcult 
to qualify for the varsity, — as well as enough speed 
to demand the finest physical condition. When one 



SOCIAL LIFE AND ACTIVITIES 163 

has seen many games, he will understand its virtues 
and appreciate the swift, if short and erratic, kicking, the 
dexterous passing, the thrilling glory of the stand-off 
half, and the method behind the apparent madness of the 
"scrums". Rugby football takes a lifetime to learn, and 
it is worth it; the rugger blue ranks next in glory to that 
of the oars. 

Association football is also played principally in 
Michaelmas term. Though this is the great professional 
game of England, it has never been so popular as Rugby 
in the schools and universities. 

"Sports" — the Oxford name for track and field athlet- 
ics — are indulged in mainly during late autumn and 
winter. Snow rarely falls in Oxford, and the wet days of 
winter are not too cold for running. This is the branch of 
athletics in which Americans feel most at home; and 
many of them win the blue with the laurel wreath. In 
the main, the English athlete will excel in the distance 
runs; while the American will be better in the sprints and 
field events where there is more advantage to be gained 
from painstaking mastery of the scientific methods of 
American coaches. If one is disappointed with stiff- 
legged English hurdling, or the high-jumping in which the 
men jump, to quote an English critic, "by the light of 
nature and not very well", he will be amazed at the good 
times recorded in the mile and three-mile, and by the 
number of men with little training or coaching who can 
run these distances well. Oxford cross-country teams 
and relay teams — as Americans can testify — are fast. 
In this sport alone is there a professional trainer — but 
his powers are advisory rather than dictatorial. 

There is a gymnasium in Oxford, but you will hardly 



i64 OXFORD OF TODAY 

find it, even in winter. It is small, and hidden on a by- 
street. Practically all sports, except boxing and fencing, 
or tennis on turf courts and cricket, can be playea out- 
doors the year around. 

The most picturesque of all English games is cricket. It 
belongs to Trinity or summer term, when it is played 
on shaven lawns that have had centuries of care, by 
players clad in immaculate flannels, and with the accom- 
paniment of tea. Each college has its pavilion fronting 
a stretch of turf for cricket and tennis. Other games may 
be more exciting but there is nothing to compare with the 
ease and grace and setting of cricket. It requires some- 
thing of the same skill to curve a cricket ball bounding 
from the ground as to twist a ball while travelling through 
the air; and it is even a more beautiful thing to see, espe- 
cially against English lawns. But Americans are gener- 
ally not interested in the game — partly because, like 
baseball and Rugby football, one has to play it almost 
from birth. 

Tennis is played the year around on hard courts; and 
in early autumn, spring, and summer on firm English 
lawn. Golf is enjoyed at all times — there are several 
courses within easy reach of the centre of the City. 
Hockey, played by many, is unfamiliar to Americans — 
being a vigorous game played on turf with a curved club 
and a round hard ball. Ice is too rare in Oxford to 
permit of ice hockey. Lacrosse has revived since the 
war; and swimming, boxing, and fencing are indulged in 
by the few. 

Everyone knows that a river is a mother of empire. 
There could have been no glory of Luxor and Karnak, no 
impressiveness of Pyramids, had not the Nile come down 



SOCIAL LIFE AND ACTIVITIES 165 

like a miracle through a thousand miles of desert sands. 
Nor could the splendid cruelty and fierce majesty of 
Assyria and Chaldea have spread a pomp of purple and 
gold without the Twin-Rivers. Oxford might conceiv- 
ably have been a city and a university had the Thames 
not seen fit to come lazily down from the sleepy Cots- 
wolds by this valley, instead of by the wider Vale of 
the White Horse to the vsouth; but it would not be this 
Oxford. The Norman overlords found pleasure in the 
river here, with its mysterious and deep windings and 
ammonite twistings — should you set your face westward 
seven times must you cross the mystic stream — for here 
was a stronghold easy to defend. So they built their 
gloomy keeps above it and the religious orders that came 
in the swathes their blades had made set up the great 
houses of Osney, Whitefriars, and Blackfriars, that 
by their stones made possible later houses of learning. 
And Oxonians today find pleasure of sweet or strenuous 
sort in the river. If it no longer provides security from 
invaders, it still brings waters of serene idleness or of 
Homeric contest. No Oxonian thinks of Oxford without 
remembering the Thames, and its daughter, the Cherwell. 
Everyone has come into contact with the river at one 
time or another. Many know it to the very pebbles of 
its bottom. The wild white swans, birds of the King, 
haunt it. It is the home of the King Sport of Oxford and 
of Britain. 

Almost every undergraduate, sooner or later, tries his 
strength on an oarhaft for his college. It is a revelation to 
an American to see a river crowded and darkened with 
eights of all degrees of skill. Here again is none of the 
narrow and limited specialization of American college 



1 66 OXFORD OF TODAY 

athletics. Rowing is a sport for all who care to row, for 
the indifferent oarsman of 140 pounds, as well as for the 
giant of 200. Of course there are the great selected crews 
from which the varsity is to be picked; but even these 
are but themselves a selection of hundreds^ who have 
rowed the year before in the winter galleys of the fixed 
seats, or in the faster sliding-seated shells of May. 
One need not be an oarsman "trailing clouds of glory" in 
boating from Eton or Shrewsbury; the most awkward 
tyro may splash his way to a college eight. It is all but 
making the sport the first thing, and the first crew, 
secondary. 

The Oxford-made oarsman's Genesis is in "tubbing": 
long sessions in a pair-oared craft whose lines recall that 
of the Wisemen of Gotham, while he displays his latent 
prowess to the keen eye of a college veteran — learning 
how to feather the blade by a quick drop of the wrists and 
to attain the basic virtue of coming forward with the body 
between the knees. Thence, if not hopeless, he makes his 
Exodus in November to the "Torpid"— a heavy eight- 
oared shell with fixed seats, and a speed described by its 
name. The Torpids (or "Toggers", as they are called) of 
the several colleges race in mid-February. So each Janu- 
ary afternoon finds the river, now in flood, noisy and 
confused with these splashing tyro-craft and with 
megaphoned coaches laying down the law from bicycles 
on the Tow Path. 

The Thames at Oxford is not a big river. Some 
Americans might mistake it for a creek, and at "Togger- 
time", for a muddy one. There are twenty-odd colleges, 

1 In the course of a year approximately 400 undergraduates take part 
in the inter-college races. 



SOCIAL LIFE AND ACTIVITIES 167 

most of which have at least two crews, to participate in 
the races. It would seem like trying to put the genii of 
the poor fishermen back into the little bottle. Yet it is 
done, and well done, twice each year. What the Thames 
lacks in breadth it has happily supplied in length — for 
from the site of the Old Mill that ground its grist for 700 
years atlfifley there is better than a mile of weirless water 
upstream to the old lodging place of Roger Bacon on 
Folly Bridge. So the sport is cut to fit the river. Each 
afternoon, for six consecutive days, three divisions of 
college Torpids, composed of about a dozen boats each, 
row over this mile. The boats start 150 feet apart, and 
pursue one another up to the head of the row of college 
barges by Christ Church meadow; that is to say, the 
medium lucky boats and the medium unfortunate row 
through to the end. The very good or the hopeless crews 
finish their work anywhere this side of the end. When a 
boat closes the gap ahead, it rams the stern of its prey 
until the coxswain in the stricken craft throws up his 
hand to acknowledge the bump. If he is overproud and 
neglects to confess defeat, it is best to sink him and his 
galley-slaves; then you are sure of the bump. It does not 
pay to hesitate, for there is the boat behind to serve you 
as you would serve others. It is not an easy thing to 
make a bump; many an overlapped boat has slipped 
away to safety by a supreme wrench of the tiller in the 
nick of time ; coxswains are full of wiles from long prac- 
tice in hugging shores and dodging pursuers. 

When a bump is made, both bumper and bumpee drop 
out of the race. So some boats may have only a hopeless 
gap to pursue to the end of the course. Next day the 
bumper and bumpee exchange places. Thus the better 



i68 OXFORD OF TODAY 

boats work their way to the top of their divisions, while 
the weaker drift, bumped to ignominy, towards the tail 
of the procession. In the day's race, the lowest division 
rows first ; and so on to the top division ; the gaps being 
bridged by the head boat of the third division rowing the 
course a second time as the bottom boat of the second 
division, and the head boat of the second, rowing as 
bottom boat of the first. That boat which leads all after 
the closing race is Head of the River — which means glory 
immortal and year-long fame. Junior common rooms are 
hung with tiller trophies of headships of yesterday. One 
college is said to have been accustomed to close its grace 
before dinner with the words — "By grace of God, first 
on the River" — (whether this practice ceased through 
regard for truth or for reverence, I cannot say). The 
order of finish becomes the order of start for the following 
year. How the boats first started is a matter lost, like 
many English things, in the mists of antiquity. 

There are those who harbor the delusion that the 
English are unexcitable. Let them come to the IfHey 
Tow Path during "Eights" or "Toggers"! If the English- 
man takes his cricket decorously, he blossoms out into 
the temperament of Montana when following the boats. 
And graybeards of former races bear him company. Here 
are colleges in crowds, stripped for action, patriarchs in 
shorts and faded blazers, men of present or past glory in 
football, cricket, or rowing, clad in coats of many colors 
bearing every device known to heraldry — grifiins, crosses, 
dragons, lions, harps, shells, lilies, keys, wheels, and 
crowns. They are armed with varied instruments of 
noise; whistles, megaphones, rattles, and pistols make the 
Tow Path a bedlam where the serpentine pandemonium 



SOCIAL LIFE AND ACTIVITIES 169 

keeps abreast of the splashing boats. The followers push 
one another into the river in their mad rush. Ardent 
supporters of Jesus College urge on their crew with 
shouts otherwise profane. A half-naked monocled mad- 
man leads on the thundering cohorts of his house of 
learning. 

And the striped and straining oarsmen are more excited 
than their supporters. Men who have calmly awaited 
the zero hour in Picardy feel their throats go dry and 
know the slow movement of aeons as the last ten seconds 
are counted off before the start, — 

As they apply the resin to their palms, 

Or lithely lip the lemon's loathesome charms. 

After it is all over, when the wounds of bumps received 
have been healed with fair excuses, and notches of bumps 
bestowed counted with pride, there are bump suppers 
for the successful — feasts of adulation and roast beef 
seasoned with brown ale. And then to bed — 

Where, in a trice, sleep-laden eyelids close; 
Each Toggernaut, deep in a sweet repose, 
Views once again the Isis' swollen stream 
And bumps and over-bumps in breathless dream; 
All — except "six", who vents a senseless snore! 
But "six" had dreamed of bumps the year before! 

"Eights" week, late in May, sees the tale retold, in 
better form and weather. While the Torpids are heavy 
fixed-seated boats manned by young oarsmen who have 
never rowed in any better college race, the "Eight" con- 
tains the best talent of each college, seated on slides, in the 
best product of the skilled shell-builders of England. 
Even the gods who lately dwelt upon Olympian seats in 



170 OXFORD OF TODAY 

the varsity eight and raced the hostile deities of Cam- 
bridge in March, are not ashamed to pull an oar for 
college fame. At this time, too, the monastic year of the 
undergraduate is over for a time — girls in dainty sum- 
mery white come up from London and Winchester and 
elsewhere to sit on the tops of the college barges or 
watch from punts the pageant of young manhood sweep- 
ing past on the river. This is the social event of the year. 
This, and not the more sedate season of Commemoration, 
is the time when her sons return to Oxford. Now the 
City is full of visitors. The hearts of starved youth are 
gladdened by the sight of gay hats and parasols in every 
quad. Parties profane the once-studious morning hours; 
dances star the evenings. 

In the afternoon, for the six racing days, the River is 
brimmed with craft of every description ; afar the vistas 
of punt poles make a watery forest of all save the narrow 
ribbon of the race-course. The barges swarm with white 
gowns and rainbow-banded straws. While the gay 
crowds divert themselves with tea the boom of the 
starting gun is heard from Iffley , — and the race is on : 

Parson, quit your lonely village, 

Citizen, the smoky town; 
Farmer, leave the fields and tillage, 

Lawyer, doff that wig and gown ! 
Breathe once more the youth of Oxford 

Where the punts serenely rock: — 
For the Eights are paddling, paddling, 

Down away to Iffiey Lock! 
Keep her steady! 
Turning, ready, 

By the bend at Ififley Lock. 



SOCIAL LIFE AND ACTIVITIES 171 

Crowded barge-tops shine resplendent 

With the decorative sex, 
While their cavaliers attendant 

Strive a teacup to annex; 
Eightsmen grey, and Eightsmen greyer 

To the riverside re-flock — 
For the Eights are pulling, pulling. 

Fast away from Iffley Lock! 

As the Eights come swinging, swinging, 
Hell for leather through the 'Gut' ! 

Feel her jumping? 

Boys, You're bumping! 
Break those stretchers through the 'Gut' 1 

Past the Boat-house, up the barges, 
Swinging, spurting all the way! 

While enthusiastic Pa, ges- 
ticulating, howls 'Hooray'! 

For his boat, his boy are bumping, 
And it's more than he can stand. 

Till the coxswain signals 'Vanquished!' 
Till the coxswain lifts his hand. 
'Finely rowed, sir! 
I'll be Mowed, sir. 
But that last long spurt was grand!' 

Listen ! soft — the river calls you 
From the city, country, coast! 
(Some, perchance, have reached life's Boat-house, 
Through the Gut, and past Red Post) 
Join us now, sirs! 
Come! Here's how, sirs; 
'Eights for ever!' — that's the toast! 



172 OXFORD OF TODAY 

If upon your college the laurels of victory have fallen, 
you and your fellow runners on the Tow Path claim the 
benign kinship of Father Thames, and, plunging into the 
tide, clothes and all, swim across, to escort home, like so 
many Tritons, your heroic Eightsmen. 

Of course, the greatest rowing event of the year is the 
Oxford-Cambridge race, rowed on the Thames in the 
western suburbs of London during the March vacation. 
But this race, falling as it does without the pale of Oxford 
and rowed as it is on the lower alien waters of the River 
in the land of the Philistines as a sort of gladiatorial 
show for a general public, has less of the spirit of joviality 
that marks the combats of Eights and Toggers. It is a 
more aloof and sedate affair. 

It is significant of the spirit of Oxford athletics that the 
University has no professional rowing coach. The var- 
sity crews, as well as the college eights, are trained by 
veterans of past races, who gladly give their time and 
effort. The best of the college eights are sent to take part 
in the gala British week of water sports at Henley in 
early July. There perhaps will be seen Harvard or some 
other American crew; and the slower, steadier English 
stroke will be matched against the more jerky feverish 
western style in which the oarsman rows less with the 
back and more with the arms. These matters, too, are 
less purely Oxonian. 

The varsity oarsman, it may be said, has attained 
something little short of immortal fame. His blue is the 
hardest blue of all to win. And rowing has long been, is, 
and shall be the greatest sport of the University. 

There is, however, a lazier life of the River, less glorious 



SOCIAL LIFE AND ACTIVITIES 173 

but perhaps more delightful. There are in fact two rivers. 
The Cherwell, a pretty stream flowing through fields of 
buttercups and woodlands where cuckoos sing, comes 
down from the hills of Banbury. Passing through 
"Mesopotamia" and under the bridge hard by Magdalen 
Tower, where boy choristers greet each May Day with a 
Latin hymn, it gently meets the Thames near Christ 
Church meadows, among the college barges. When 
Spring has sweetened the land, the Cher is a river of 
indolent dreams, a paradise for idle boating. You can 
paddle or pole your way up its gentle current and lie 
against the bank under the grateful willow shade. Or you 
can make Sunday trips with a few friends far up its wind- 
ing course; here the river is but a brook, where angling 
or Aeschylus find added pleasure in the golden haze of 
the fields or the green gloom of interlacing boughs. Or 
again, young ladies from St. Hugh's or Lady Margaret 
may be taken on a quest for tea among rustic summer 
houses. 

The m.ain river also has its charms. Above the City, 
beyond gas works and Port Meadow — the common of 
Oxford citizens for a thousand years — it again becomes 
eloquent with the shade of great elms and flocks of white 
swans. It washes the bower of Fair Rosamond at ruined 
Godstowe. There, too, is the haven of piscatorial peace 
that would delight old Izaak Walton himself — the Trout 
Inn. Hither, so the proprietor stoutly declares, the nuns 
of Godstowe used to come for a harmless draught. And 
farther up above the woodlands of Wytham and Eynsham 
toll-bridge (where by George Ill's decree a pram pays 
as much as a motor-truck) the boatman comes into a 
quiet where sleepy trees hold up the drowsy summer 



174 OXFORD OF TODAY 

clouds and herons stand mooning in the whispering 
reeds. This is Newbridge, which, now that old London 
Bridge has fallen down, has become the oldest bridge 
over the Thames. On its perfect aspiring curve, above 
the seven arches, the lace-frilled Kingsmen bore down 
the Roundhead pikemen long ago ; a most proper Sort of 
bridge, with an inn at either end — -the Rose, of potent 
home-brewed ale, and the May Bush, of old flagstones 
and benches worn to hollows. Or should the river 
wanderer wish to prolong his Odyssey, he may visit at 
this point its fair daughters, the sedgy Windrush and 
the "perfect Evenlode": — 

A lovely river, all alone, 

She lingers in the hills and holds 
A hundred little towns of stone. 

Forgotten in the western wolds. 

Or perhaps you will prefer to travel downstream from 
Oxford to Nuneham Park, where "Capability" Brown, 
prince of artificers of the artificial eighteenth century, 
who saw a stream merely as an excuse for an elaborate 
bridge and who re-worked nature to man's behest, has 
built his monument of landscape gardening. Farther on 
the spires of monkish Abingdon shadow the river; and 
beyond, in labyrinthine backwaters where cows crop 
waterlilies, checkerboards of peaceful fields are spread 
below the crest of Sinodun, the key-hill of the upper 
Thames valley, with its ramparted slopes and gloomy 
crown of trees whose roots are among the brave bones 
of Briton, Roman, Saxon, and Dane. 

There is a wealth of craft from which to choose : rob- 
roys, dinghys, whiffs, canoes from Oldtown, Maine, and 



SOCIAL LIFE AND ACTIVITIES 175 

the prime favorite — the punt. Epicurus may well have 
spent his days in some Grecian prototype of the punt. 
Its name in England brings memories of girls in restful 
white and men in flannels with rainbow sashes, of bright 
summer under the airy canopy of shade, of idling over 
happy books. The punt is a light flat-bottomed square- 
ended boat, with cushions upon which to recline at length. 
It is propelled by a long pole which the propeller, stand- 
ing upon the rear end, shoves into the bottom. Now the 
bottom is a thing of guile; for yards and yards it may 
stretch hard and firm, and then, just when the punter 
is rosy with confidence, it drops serenely away, or the 
pole sinks swiftly into a sickening mudbank. If adept, 
the punter stays with the punt and leaves the pole; if not, 
he stays with the pole and leaves the punt. The way to 
skill is moist. For the novice, too, the punt will go in any 
direction save that chosen; he will receive rich examples 
of oratory from boats he never dreamed could be hit. 
Then there are trees ready to treat him like Absalom 
while the punt goes merrily on. Punting is a royal game 
— for those who lie on the cushions and give advice to 
him who stands and poles. 

There are more byways to learning than those of the 
rivers. There is the great university of the hills and ham- 
lets around Oxford. Walking is not a lost art. Golden 
lectures may be read in the October wheatsheaves, and 
lessons of happiness and contentment, as well as of Gothic 
and Norman architecture, may be learned in the hundred 
villages within footing distance of the City. The sleepy 
lanes of Stanton Harcourt and the rose-hung thatched 
cottages of Wytham offer rich courses in the culture of 



176 OXFORD OF TODAY 

life, — precepts of simplicity and of peace. One may live 
Gray's Elegy almost within a stone's throw of the 
old City walls. There are the fragments of mediaeval 
glass in Yarn ton Church, the lich-gate of Garsington, 
the village green of Marsh Baldon, the village pond with 
palings and ducks at Cumnor, streets of chocolate-colored 
thatched cottages with geranium window-boxes and rose- 
wound dormers at Clifton Hampden, the ruined mill at 
Wheatley, the everlasting roses of Hinton Waldrist, the 
Fyfield elm where Matthew Arnold's maidens danced on 
May Day. There are fancies to follow among the twisted 
and knotted pollard willows below Ferry Hinksey, hun- 
dreds of larks to gladden your heart along Cowley Plain, 
and nightingales to hear in the high woods of Iffley. It 
may be your good fortune to become the friend of a wa- 
terman who lives in his houseboat with geraniums and 
white curtains, close by the remnant of Osney Abbey. 
You may hope to come to know the genial philosopher 
with wooden yoke for carrying waterpails, who serves the 
housewives of Iffley. The unspoiled humanity of old 
village life awaits you upon the hills and in the valleys 
on every hand. There are good friends to make your 
trips worth while, men who know the countryside to its 
last stile and hedgerow. 

There is the Meadow of the Seven Candles below 
Iffley, where the monks of Abingdon and the haughty 
Norman burghers of Oxford saw the miraculous voyage of 
the raft, which, with its candles against the stream, circled 
all the disputed meadowland, touching it everywhere for 
the brotherhood of Abingdon. Below the Tower of Iffley 
Church, — the most perfect Norman church in Europe — 
with its zodiacal bird-demons fringing the door with their 



SOCIAL LIFE AND ACTIVITIES 177 

beaks, snowdrops usher in the youngest Spring. Beyond 
the Church and past the hill where Hawthorne loved to 
lie and watch Oxford's spires, is a coppice where even in 
February the wild yellow primrose blooms. When you 
have wandered far on quests like these, there is every- 
where offered the rest of inns, where tea with eggs and 
rich jam or plenty of good ale and cheese give you new 
energy for the walk homeward. 

If, like most undergraduates, you get yourself a bicy- 
cle, the circle of your day's wandering from Oxford may 
be widened. Within a day's ride — out and back — are 
many sights to see. All Berkshire beckons from the 
South ; on its blue downs Alfred and his Saxons with their 
"morning-cold" spears in hand awaited the shock of the 
red-haired Danes coming over the crest of Ashdown at 
sunrise. Below is Wantage, an ancient town of kings; 
and Faringdon, where Canute made merry with a silver 
drinking horn still to be seen. This is the Vale of the 
White Horse; and here, above Uf^ngton, is that great 
white dragon itself, the symbol of the West-Saxons, 
shining afar as when first carved out of the turf by 
Alfred and his victorious men after Wedmore. You may 
climb up and sit in the creature's eye! 

Westward the Cotswolds invite you to their tucked- 
away towns living the quiet life of yesterday, each with a 
Norman church, and names of music such as Stow-on-the- 
Wold. To the North are Blenheim and its ducal seat, 
and Woodstock. Farther on, but less than fifty miles 
from Oxford, is Warwickshire — with Stratford, Warwick, 
and Kenil worth. To the Northeast are Banbury, famous 
for buns, and Bicester; while Southeast are the beech- 
crowned Chiltern Hills. The England that you thus come 



178 OXFORD OF TODAY 

to know — here is the heart of old England — you will 
remember while you live. 

Within the City itself there is learning outside of lec- 
tures and university libraries. No city in America or 
England, save London, has more delightful bookshops. 
They run underground, they overflow upon the streets; 
I know of no more entertaining course than that of the 
street bookstalls; you may have Marcus Aurelius at his 
best amid the street sounds — dull poets acquire an elo- 
quence in the open. No one disturbs you, for these books 
can be bought for a song ; and you may read away whole 
afternoons. Antique shops also spread their nets of old 
Sheffield to ensnare you. You will sooner or later be- 
come a collector of something. 

In the beauty created by the past is much to be 
learned by the present. The different colleges them- 
selves offer a field of architectural and historical learning 
that no one undergraduate lifetime can hope to exhaust. 
Every sort of architecture and art, — good, bad, and in- 
different — is about you. But try as you may, some 
colleges will always remain a terra incognita. And if you 
do not try, you will probably find yourself at the end of 
your third year, when Schools are over, rushing about 
and doing the University like a Cook's tourist. 

Best of all, there will be a university of English 
friends; for after a time much of the reserve of the 
first days will disappear. The best English gardens 
have high walls, with broken glass on the top ; but there 
are gates which will open. Perhaps Americans overdo 
cordiality in their colleges, where a premium, is placed 
on a good "mixer". But, at all events, there exists at 








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SOCIAL LIFE AND ACTIVITIES 179 

Oxford not the slightest impediment to an American's 
forming friendships of the truest sort among men of 
similar tastes. If he be a "blue", or wish to be one, he will 
find friends among lovers of sport; if he delight more in 
pleasures of the mind, he will find the fellowship of kin- 
dred minds. From his tutor, dean, or even the Head of 
his college, he may come to know how graceful much 
learning may be made. In North Oxford he may meet 
those less actively in the University life — great men 
and leaders of the thought of the nation. Sir William 
Osier while he lived was such a friend to undergraduates. 

On the ladies' days of Eights and Commemoration 
Weeks, the undergraduate may extend his friendships to 
girls of his own age and interests. Then come teas in 
quiet gardens, teas and spreads in your own sanctuary, if 
you be still in college, or among your uncertain armchairs 
and under your landlady's critical eye, if you be in lodg- 
ings (or "digs", to speak the varsity language). There 
are dances under the marquee that fills an entire quad 
like the tent of a patriarch, supper in a transfigured hall, 
and walks among the trees of the garden, festooned with 
lanterns. At other college balls also you may help to 
make a happy party. Nor are these the only seasons of 
such society, for there are dances and teas at Somerville 
or Lady Margaret. 

Oxford terms are short, and your devotions beyond 
mere books so long, that most of your work must be 
done in the vacations — the six weeks' periods at Christ- 
mas and Easter, and the four months of the summer. 
Even then you need not retire to a hermit cell in the 
country. Friends reading along the same lines may join 
you for a "reading party" in Devon, or North Wales, or 



i8o OXFORD OF TODAY 

among the Lakes. But in your early years, with Schools 
far ahead, you will probably seize the opportunity to 
travel on the Continent — many Americans manage to 
roam from Norway to Spain, and Brittany to Sicily, 
though the increased cost does not encourage long jour- 
neys. 

Apart from the round of more or less organized social 
life which I have been describing, in addition to the 
pleasure of University sports and functions, and excur- 
sions into the surrounding countryside, it is more than 
likely that the undergraduate will find the best hours of 
his life in informal gatherings of his friends in his or 
another's rooms. Oxford is intensely social in the most 
informal way. Undergraduates are continually enter- 
taining each other at breakfast, or at lunch, or meeting 
for tea, or coffee after dinner, in their rooms in college 
or in their lodgings in the City. These occasions, among 
friends, are of the pleasantest and most valuable social 
experiences which the University can offer. The habit 
of entertaining and being entertained in this way is one 
of the best; and is early taught to the first-year men. It 
is fair to say that the undergraduate who spends two con- 
secutive days in term without a meal or a chat over tea 
or coffee with some of his fellows is either deliberately 
missing one of the best gifts of the University, or wrestling 
almost too vigorously with Schools and books. 

This is especially true of the first year. Then the ter- 
rors of Final Schools are dimmed by the haze of distance ; 
and the undergraduate does not ordinarily feel bound to 
spend more than half of each term-day over his books. 
Summer term of this first year is the most social term of 
all — a term when distant Schools and beautiful weather 



SOCIAL LIFE AND ACTIVITIES i8i 

combine to keep you much outdoors or with your friends. 
Such a day may frequently run something as follows: 

You wake on your small pallet, reminiscent of barracks, 
with great reluctance, for Oxonian sleep is deep and 
untroubled. Something is forcing itself upon your state 
of "pure being". At last you know — it is your "scout". 
He has been hovering over you and chanting his "Five- 
and-twenty-minutes-past-seven, sir" for heaven knows 
how long, or rattling away at your jug and bowl. Through 
the window, whose businesslike bars remind you that this 
is Oxford — the last outpost of a mediaevalism which kept 
lads of learning in at night — you see a neighboring college 
gable. And you hear the incessant ringing of variously- 
toned bells, all over the City. You leap out of bed and 
bathe swiftly, — for cares are far away and you have a 
"brekker" on your hands this morning. The hot water 
for shaving, in the can that looks like a garden watering 
pot, is hot by courtesy only; and you must eke it out 
from a jug as cold as New England providence. You 
hurry — and finish your dressing before the cheery warmth 
of the fire in your study; slipping into gray flannel 
"bags" (an unofficial badge of the University from 
Fellows of All Souls to the meekest commoner) the 
name of which denotes their cut and want of creases, 
and donning a woolly waistcoat and a sports coat of 
heavy Scottish tweed. Now you are in the ordinary 
working uniform of undergraduate Oxford. 

Your scout hurries back and forth and in and out 
of your study. White linen and silver toastracks begin 
to appear from his closets and yours. You have four or 
five men coming to your breakfast. In the lean years 
during and just after the war, colleges retrenched and 



1 82 OXFORD OF TODAY 

forced all members to take all meals in the college hall. 
But good days return, and the best customs. You may 
have to go to another college for your tutor, but you can 
have breakfast, lunch, and tea in your own rooms. 

Your study, it should have been said, may be a pan- 
elled, though somewhat gloomy, rectangle — furnished 
with ordinary wooden chairs and two or three somewhat 
shabby armchairs. There is a sideboard, notched and 
chipped by men and breakfasts of other days. And a 
bookcase which some worthy tried to decorate with 
carving. Mirrors abound, — for some reason unknown, a 
decorative motif popular with college bursars. On your 
walls are a couple of goods prints, and possibly some- 
thing which you claim to be "an old master". In any 
case your mantel boasts a match box, a tobacco jar, and 
half-a-dozen pipes. 

While the scout finishes laying the covers, you answer 
the summons of your college bell, attending chapel or 
presenting yourself at roll-call. Thus your presence in 
college gets a final check. For this function, you will 
have caught up a bit of tattered black cloth from under 
the table, and wrapped it around your neck or thrown it 
over a shoulder. You are a "Commoner" in the Univer- 
sity, and this is your gown — a strip of stuff with holes for 
the arms instead of sleeves, reaching only to the bottom 
of your coat, and far from meeting in front. Two little 
streamers springing from the shoulders, and a sort of 
sailor collar, give it the appearance of a garment. For 
going abroad at night, and for all University functions, the 
gown is your necessary companion. For all but the most 
formal it serves for that academic dress which by rule 
includes, not only gown, but cap and white tie as well. 



SOCIAL LIFE AND ACTIVITIES 183 

Once returned to your rooms, desultory guests begin to 
appear. Breakfast begins at last before an imposing 
array of food. Fish with strangely colored sauce, sausage 
rolls or breaded lamb chops, coffee in tall silver pots, tea 
for those who wish it, racks of toast, ready for thick but- 
ter and jam or marmalade. Conversation is as plentiful 
as food. One holds forth on the need of a return to ways 
bucolic, another defends the new lady undergraduates, a 
third makes sarcasms on his don's clothes or a pernicious 
man of alien fold — all topics from politics to gossip are 
touched at will. After food is done and smoke has filled 
the room, one leaves to read to his tutor an essay which 
he spent last night in writing. The rest drift away grad- 
ually — the last waiting until the morning is more than 
half gone. You have just time to make the two lectures 
you really must keep abreast of this term. So you snatch 
up your gown and are off on your bicycle for a distant 
college hall. 

After another lecture you hurry back to lunch at one, 
to be taken in solitary state at one end of your table. 
This may be a meal of cold meat, bread and butter, and 
ale if you like; but the average undergraduate takes 
little but bread and cheese, and possibly a fruit tart or 
something similar. For lunch, followed immediately by 
sport, should be a light meal. 

Throughout the afternoon you pull an oar, play rug- 
ger, swing your golf clubs, or tennis racket, or indulge in 
some other sport or exercise to your particular taste. By 
half-past-four you are back in college, and ready for tea, 
in your own room alone or with friends, or at the rooms of 
another. 

Tea in Oxford, as in all England, is a manly affair, and 



1 84 OXFORD OF TODAY 

not the pink nightmare of America. It is not dehcate ices, 
thin brew, and fragile wafers. On the contrary your 
host will give you thick sandwiches, crumpets, Banbury 
buns, buttered toast, bread and jam, or rich fruit cake — 
leaving you to eat as much or as many as you like. All 
these may keep company to tea brewed well and strong. 
This is another meal, and not the least of the day. And 
it ranks among the pleasantest of the day's occasions. 
Good tea gives a subtle eloquence to the tongue; and 
witty epigrams and noble schemes are born about the 
stroke of five in Oxford. 

After tea friends scatter, and you repair to a library 
or to your rooms for reading until dinner. This, the 
fourth meal, is taken by the college as a body, in a large 
dining hall where in winter, a flickering glow from the 
great fireplaces throws strange shadows over the dim 
pictures of old dignitaries and leaders of the college world. 
You wear your gown, and sit at a long table with men of 
your year. The Scholars, members of the foundation, 
have their own table; and across the head of the hall 
is a dais and table for the Head of the college and the 
Fellows — who dine in dinner dress and long gowns. The 
high lights on old silver, good beef or mutton, and lively 
conversation make dinner a pleasing occasion; but it is 
perhaps the least appreciated meal of the day and is not 
lingered over by the undergraduates. 

After dinner, in summer term in the long English 
evening, you and your friends may adjourn to the garden 
to inquire after the health of the college tortoise, who 
by report knew the last Stuart king, or to play at bowls 
on the velvet lawn, or to gather about a garden table for 
coffee and pipes. 



SOCIAL LIFE AND ACTIVITIES 185 

At this early stage of your university career and in 
summer term, there is too Httle time for evening study in 
any case. You may go to the theatre or to a club meet- 
ing, being careful to take your gown. For then is the 
hour when Proctors walk abroad in black gowns, with a 
train of "bull-dogs" recruited from fleet townsmen, ready 
to run an offending undergraduate to earth and hold him 
for the sedate approach of their Proctor, to ask his name 
and college and to request the favor of a call on the follow- 
ing day. Any rag or fraction of a gown, however tattered 
or burnt by fire, will save you from a fine on that score; 
and presence of mind may make one gown serve for two, 
and cover a gownless friend. There are many rules of 
undergraduate conduct in the City; infraction if caught 
means at least a proctorial fine, and at most, dismissal. 

You will return to your college before midnight. After 
nine o'clock its gate is closed, but will be opened to you 
in consideration of a small fine, increasing with the late- 
ness of the hour. But after midnight it will not be 
opened. And the penalty for not being in at that hour is 
expulsion. There are ways over eight-foot walls and 
chevaux-de-frise and broken glass — there are airy routes 
along the boughs; but at best they are uncertain. 

Back in your rooms, you may be unable to retire de- 
spite the hour. Friends drop in for a short talk and a 
pipeful of your tobacco, and to criticise your taste in mix- 
tures and authors. Solid ideas are uttered at midnight. 
Would that your tutor might hear them! But the night 
grows and friends slip off to bed; and you, too, lest 
morning catch you lightheaded. 

What have you accomplished? 

John Masefield in a pleasant lecture in the Schools 



1 86 OXFORD OF TODAY 

gave Oxford undergraduates a vivid picture of the com- 
petition between the creative artist and Hfe: one's best 
drama may be broken hopelessly by a quarrel of fish- 
women outside the window; two dogs may fight, and ruin 
an ode; a friend, bursting in, may wreck a sonnet. But 
great creators can compete against fishmongers, dogs, 
and friends. You will not forget, even in the Valley of 
the Shadow of Finals, that Aristotle taught the lesson of 
the golden mean, for you achieved that conclusion with 
girl Commoners whispering on your one extreme and a 
decrepit Scholar punctuating his reading with sneezes, on 
your other. At any rate you have been master of your 
rooms and of your destiny. Schools are still two years 
ahead, and many days of hard work; but summer term 
in your first year is the time for friends and exchange of 
ideas. Your life will never know another such time. 

Thus, in his comings and goings amid this active life 
the undergraduate may happen upon the lasting life of the 
University behind her life ephemeral. Behind her pag- 
eantry of cricket, crew, and football, behind study that 
becomes her youth like a dream and the dreaming that 
makes all things golden, behind the careless luxury of 
years all promise and goodwill, behind her gifts of 
friendship and happiness, there is an enduring secret 
charm. Perhaps no one may describe the real worth of 
Oxford ; like things of beauty, she eludes, to tempt men 
still. And there is symbolism in her towers; for most of 
their days they stand half-veiled in haze or clouds of 
opalescent rain; even from the High, St. Mary's spire 
rises aloof, unreal. Some faultless April afternoon, from 
Hinksey Hill or Wytham Wood, one comes at last upon 



SOCIAL LIFE AND ACTIVITIES 187 

the view of all the white glory of the City, — but even as 
he gazes the mists obscure the Vision. And so it is with 
the secret which inspires her life. It can be learned only 
by living in it, and can be told only to those who have 
seen. 



CHAPTER IX 

CECIL JOHN RHODES 
I 853- I 902 

By George Van Santvoord, B. Litt., Connecticut and 
Oriel, '13 

During the years between 1873 and 1881, the lecturers 
at Oriel College in the University of Oxford were occasion- 
ally annoyed by a tall fair-haired boy who diverted the 
attention of their auditors by passing among them for 
inspection handfuls of uncut diamonds. The offender 
was Cecil John Rhodes. 

In the quiet country parsonage where he had grown up 
the dominating personality had been his father, a shrewd 
old vicar famed for his beautiful reading and the terse 
ten-minute sermons he preached to an appreciative 
congregation. The vicar hoped all his seven sons would 
follow in his footsteps and become parsons; but to his 
disappointment their natural tastes prevailed, and one 
by one they drifted away into the Army or other more 
adventurous careers. Like the rest, Cecil, the fifth son, 
had contemplated entering the Church. At school he won 
a medal for elocution, which seemed to show that he was 
suited for holy orders. But symptoms of consumption 
decided his father that the boy needed a long sea-voyage, 
so at the age of 17 he was sent out to join his brother 
Herbert, who was experimenting with cotton-growing 
in the remote colony of Natal. 




Cecil John Rhodes 

(From a miniature painted by Miss Mary Helen Carlisle, iS 
Reproduced by kind permission of the Artist) 



CECIL JOHN RHODES 189 

Three years in South Africa transformed Rhodes from 
a shy angular lad in precarious health into a vigorous 
able man. The first months he spent on his brother's farm, 
planting cotton, clearing new land of its dense brush, 
and during his spare hours reading his classics against 
the time when he should return to England to enter the 
University. He lived in a tiny hut in the bush, working 
out of doors most of the day. For long periods during 
his brother's absence he had full charge of the farm and 
its Kaffir laborers. Business capacity, respect for the 
dignity of labor, and experience with the natives that 
gave him rare insight into African character — all these 
he gained before the failure of their cotton crops and an 
extraordinary opportunity in the north lured the brothers 
away from their plantation in Natal. 

Diamonds had been discovered in the Orange River 
country and on every tongue were marvelous tales of 
fortunes in the making or already made. The brothers 
packed up their possessions and Herbert set out ahead 
to secure a claim, leaving Cecil to follow more slowly 
with his Greek lexicon and the mining tools in a lumbering 
ox-cart. So Cecil made the 400-mile journey across the 
lonely upland country to Kimberly all alone. It gave him 
abundant opportunity for reading and meditation. As, 
he went inland he began slowly to ascend the great 
central plateau of Africa — the "high veldt", with its broad 
open plains, clear air, and starry nights, so like those 
of our own West. Here he met his first Boers, descendants 
of the Dutch farmers who had trekked up from Cape 
Colony to found their Orange Free State and South 
African Republic soon after the old Dutch settlement 
at the Cape had been taken over by the English during 



190 OXFORD OF TODAY 

the Napoleonic Wars. To Rhodes who knew only the 
semi-tropical colony of Natal, with its homogeneous 
British population, all this was new and fascinating, and 
he came to love the veldt with its broad sunny spaces, 
and to respect the honest Dutch burghers. 

At the end of the journey he found Herbert's claims at 
Colesburg Kopje, or New Rush, as the swarms of diggers 
had christened it. In a letter to his mother he gives a 
good picture of the scene as it appeared from his tent: 
"Imagine a small round hill, at its very highest part only 
30 feet above the level of the surrounding country; all 
round it a mass of white tents. . . . [It] is like an 
immense number of ant-heaps covered with black ants 
as thick as can be, the latter represented by human 
beings. There are about 600 claims on the kopje 
and . . . about ten thousand [men] working every 
day on a piece of ground 180 yards by 220." 

In such surroundings the brothers worked their claim. 
Herbert's restless spirit soon found mining irksome, and 
he often drifted away, leaving his younger brother in 
charge. It was no easy school for a boy of 18, to hold 
his own among the crowd of rough diggers, to watch 
over a valuable claim and manage a crowd of barbarous 
natives always intent on stealing diamonds and ready 
for any mischief. There men saw him on his claim, sitting 
on an overturned bucket, — "a tall fair boy, blue-eyed, 
with somewhat aquiline features, wearing flannels of the 
school playing-field somewhat shrunken with strenuous 
rather than effectual washing". Yet this boy soon 
learned his new game, so that no one was more skillful at 
it than he. The New Rush was the preparatory school 
from which he entered Oxford in 1873. 



CECIL JOHN RHODES 191 

Probably no such undergraduate had been at Oriel 
since the day, some 300 years before, when Sir Walter 
Raleigh had left college, with his dreams of finding the 
treasure of El Dorado, and of founding an "Inglishe 
nation" in America. His fellows did not understand him 
at first and found him rather hard and cynical. He was 
constantly worried about his claims, and more than once 
he was uncomfortably near the end of his resources. 
More disquieting still was a recurrence of his old lung- 
trouble, so serious that his doctor's dictum was that he 
had "only six months to live". But Rhodes's determined 
will never wavered. For ill-health or financial difficulties 
his remedy was the same — recuperation in South Africa. 

Yet he found at Oxford something so precious that he 
returned there again and again until he had kept all his 
terms and qualified for his degree. It was partly the 
visible results of the Oxford training that impressed him. 
As he expressed it later in his life: "The Oxford system in 
its finished form looks very unpractical. Yet wherever 
you turn your eye — except in science — ^an Oxford man is 
at the top of the tree." But more than this it was the 
spirit of Oxford that laid hold of his imagination. In his 
college he was not a very familiar figure, though he 
rowed a little, played polo, was master of the drag-hounds 
and belonged to some of the most exclusive clubs, like the 
Bullingdon and Vincent's. Still less was he a "grind", for 
he writes his friends of his "tremendous skirmishes" with 
the dons, who at times were in despair over his desultory 
methods of study. Yet through it all he was finding what 
he wanted at Oxford — time for talking, reading, thinking. 
His friends were mostly quiet men who kept to them- 
selves; many of them later became prominent in politics 



192 OXFORD OF TODAY 

and business, and with them he loved to discuss some of 
the great questions which were interesting him — the 
eternal questions of politics and government, and of 
man's end in life. 

In his reading he found satisfactory answers to some of 
these questions. Aristotle's Ethics, for centuries the 
cornerstone of education at Oxford, impressed upon him 
the conception of virtue as the "desire for the exercise of 
the human faculties in such a way as to develop the 
highest excellence in the best circumstances". Gibbon's 
picture of Rome as the great source of civilizing and 
stabilizing power interested him hugely, and suggested 
a worthier aim for his own country than mere commercial 
prosperity. And joined with these two there came a 
third teacher in the person of John Ruskin, whose great 
Inaugural Lecture with its appeal to the youth of England 
Rhodes held as one of his most precious possessions. 

Rhodes was 28 years old before he took his degree at 
Oxford. Of the eight years since his matriculation he had 
spent about five in South Africa, partly to regain his 
health, partly to watch over the fortunes of his mines. 
Matters had been moving swiftly in the diamond fields 
during those years. Overproduction had lowered profits 
very considerably and many of the diggers were getting 
discouraged. The tiny area of "yellow dirt" in which 
the stones were found was so honeycombed with diggings 
that the walls of the pits began to fall in, burying the 
remaining diamonds deeper than ever beneath the debris, 
and to add to their troubles water began to flood the pits 
from below. 

In all these difficulties Rhodes saw only opportunity. 
One by one he bought up the claims of the men who were 



CECIL JOHN RHODES 193 

discouraged and ready to quit. While the owners of 
flooded mines were waiting for machinery to arrive from 
England, he located a Boer farmer who had a pump for 
irrigating his farm. The Dutchman was determined to 
keep his pump, but to rid himself of Rhodes's importuni- 
ties he named what he thought a prohibitive sum — and 
Rhodes bought it, though it took all his ready money. 
He had to persuade another old Beer to transport 
the pump to the mines on his mere promise to pay 
him. Rhodes never forgot the honesty and trustfulness 
of this old fellow, and used to date his sympathy for the 
Dutch race as beginning with this experience. 

From such incidents it is easy to understand why 
Rhodes succeeded in the diamond fields. Evidently his 
neighbors recognized his character and ability, for when 
Griqualand was annexed to Cape Colony in 1880 and 
given two seats in its Assembly, the voters promptly 
chose Rhodes to represent one of the constituencies. 
Boer farmers and the cosmopolitan population around 
the mines seemed equally to admire and trust him, and 
he was returned to represent Barkley West, election after 
election, until his death. 

Clad in his Oxford tweeds Rhodes must have come as 
something of a shock to the rather stately assembly at 
Cape Town, where many of the old Dutch members 
dressed formally in black. But they and their taciturn 
leader, Jan Hofmeyr, whom they called "the Mole", soon 
came to look on the young Englishman as a friend and 
ally. At first he took little part in the debates, quietly 
studying commercial and political questions and making 
friends with the leaders. Gradually he became prominent. 
One of his contemporaries describes him in the Assembly 



194 OXFORD OF TODAY 

as "tall, broadshouldered, with face and 'figure of some- 
what loose formation. His hair was auburn, carelessly 
flung over his forehead, his eyes of bluish gray, dreamy but 
kindly. But the mouth — aye, that was the unruly member 
of his face, — ^with deep lines following the curve of the 
moustache, it had a determined, masterful, and some- 
times scornful expression. . . . His style of speak- 
ing was straight and to the point. He was not a hard 
hitter in debate, rather a persuader, reasoning and 
pleading in a conversational way as one more anxious to 
convince an opponent than to expose his weakness. He 
used little gesture; what there was, was most expressive, 
his hands held behind him, or thrust out, sometimes 
passed over his brow". 

All this time he was devoting a good deal of thought to 
his mining, introducing better machinery and purchasing 
the claims adjoining his own, till by 1887 he controlled the 
whole area of the "nice little mine" he had described to 
his mother in 1871. Characteristically he named it "De 
Beers" after the old Boer farmer who had owned the 
land originally. 

The danger of the whole industry being ruined by 
competition was always in his mind. Each year, accord- 
ing to his calculations, there was a market for about 
£4,000,000 worth of diamonds — and no more. Over- 
production would mean only that prices would fall, and 
the only possible solution for the miners was amalgama- 
tion of all the mines, so that production and prices could 
be regulated. In the way of such a scheme stood a clever 
Jew called Barney Barnato, who had gained control of 
the mines at Kimberley, much as Rhodes had done with 
De Beers. Both men were determined to win control of 



CECIL JOHN RHODES 195 

the entire industry, and a bitter struggle began between 
them. After a fierce contest Barnato was downed, and 
forced into amalgamation with the organization of the 
De Beers Consolidated Mines. Rhodes's masterful will 
prevailed against Barnato's opposition even in the details 
of incorporation of the new company, so that it was not 
merely a mining concern, but might engage in almost 
any sort of enterprise — building railroads or telegraph 
lines, banking, and even raising armed forces to protect 
its lands. "No one else in the world," said Barnato, 
"could have induced me to go into this partnership. But 
Rhodes is an extraordinary man; he tied me up as he 
ties up everybody. It is his way. You can't resist him." 

For Rhodes the way was now clear for undertaking all 
sorts of schemes. Gold mining in the Transvaal had been 
developing rapidly, and the holdings he acquired there, 
combined with the profits from De Beers, provided him 
with abundant means. This gave him added power in 
working for the great object he had come to look on as 
his main purpose — the extension of British influence into 
the interior of Africa. And his friendship with Hofmeyr 
and support of the policy of the "Africander Bond" in 
encouraging agriculture in South Africa had given him 
the needed political strength. 

Four years before the struggle with Barnato he had 
seen the peril threatening the British expansion in the 
north. On the northeast the Dutch Republics barred 
the way. On the northwest was the danger, soon to be 
realized, of German occupation. Only a narrow lane 
to the interior lay between. If the "neck of the 
bottle" were once closed, Cape Colony and Natal would 
be left precariously on the tip of the continent, and all 
hope of expansion would be ended. Just in time Rhodes 



196 OXFORD OF TODAY 

dashed in. Squatters from the Transvaal and native 
chiefs were wavering until he arrived and persuaded them 
to accept British rule under the Crown. A tactless 
British officer nearly undid all his work by angering the 
fiery Boer General Delarey, so that he declared ominously 
— "Blood must flow!" But Rhodes was on the spot in time, 
and persuaded the Dutchman that they should have 
breakfast together before talking about blood. Delarey 
was so charmed with his guest that he kept Rhodes with 
him for a week and invited him to act as godfather to his 
grandchild. 

So the corridor to the interior was saved. But Rhodes 
was not satisfied. To him the interior of Africa with its 
vast territory given over to the savages, its waste of 
nature, and its contempt of human life, was a perpetual 
challenge. "It is inevitable fate that all this should be 
changed", he told his friends, "and I should like to be the 
agent of fate." He longed to see the whole country opened 
to civilization. Even a map of it fascinated him, for 
every region was as familiar to him as if he had seen it; 
his friends loved to "get him on the map" and let him 
talk, while they listened as charmed as was Desdemona 
at the stories of Othello's wanderings. "Homes, more 
homes — that's what I'm working for!", he would tell them, 
at the end of his discourse. 

One last formidable obstacle in his way was the savage 
tribe of the Matabele, the greatest military power in 
Africa since the destruction of the Zulus. To their king, 
Lobengula, Rhodes now sent his friend Dr. Jameson as 
an ambassador, promising £ioo a month for the king 
and rifles and ammunition for his warriors in return 
for mining privileges. Lobengula is described as an 



CECIL JOHN RHODES 197 

impressive old fejlow: "A somewhat grotesque costume 
of four yards of blue calico over his shoulders and a string 
of tigers' tails around his waist could not make his 
imposing figure ridiculous. In his early days he was an 
athlete and a fine shot, and though, as years went on, 
his voracious appetite rendered him conspicuously obese, 
he was every inch a ruler." He was kind to the few 
Europeans who came to his country and had received 
from them a variety of gifts ranging from opera hats to 
"champagne enough to float a battleship"! Dr. Jameson 
was an old friend of Lobengula and had cured him of his 
gout on a previous visit ; so the king readily received him 
at his royal kraal and agreed to allow prospecting in his 
kingdom, and later to permit an expedition to be sent 
far to the north of his territory. 

This gave Rhodes the chance he had been longing for. 
From the English Government he secured a charter for 
a great company for opening up the northern territory. 
Not since the days of the East India and Hudson's Bay 
Companies had so great an undertaking been chartered, 
for it had power to build railroads and telegraph lines, 
to encourage colonization and trade, and even to police 
and govern the country when it had been opened. The 
Duke of Abercorn and Earl Grey consented to be directors 
of the new company, and Rhodes had no trouble in 
interesting the British public in his enterprise. 

Meantime he made haste to fit out an expedition to 
enter the northern territory and to make an actual 
settlement before Lobengula should change his mind or 
his warriors should get out of hand and interfere. In 
June, 1890, his column of pioneers and police set out on 
its perilous 400-mile journey through the wilderness, 



198 OXFORD OF TODAY 

guided by a few hunters and explorers who knew some- 
thing of the country. Three months later they arrived at 
their destination and hoisted the British flag over what is 
now Salisbury, the capital of Rhodesia. 

Rhodes himself had not been able to go with his 
expedition. There had been a cabinet crisis at Cape 
Town and he was chosen as Prime Minister to form a new 
Government. For five years, the busiest period of all his 
busy life, he held this office, besides continuing to direct 
his mining interests and finding time as well to guide his 
Chartered Company in opening up the great territory 
which was soon to be named after him. 

Possession of this territory was an enormous advantage 
to him in working for his object — the federation of all 
the scattered Dutch and English settlements into one 
great South African Union. Against him stood the 
republican sentiment in the Transvaal and the Orange 
Free State, where the Dutch burghers were determined 
to keep their independence and their own flags; and in 
Cape Colony and Natal indifference and provincialism 
were nearly as hard to overcome. 

As Prime Minister, Rhodes followed a broad policy, 
striving to encourage a national sentiment by customs- 
regulations, by better means of communication, and by 
schools where the young people of the different colonies 
should come together. By all these means he hoped to 
work toward the social and intellectual union of the 
colonies. And through his friendship with Hofmeyr and 
the Dutch, his hopes seemed to be on the way to realiza- 
tion. Even the troublesome native problems he attacked 
in the famous Glen Gray Act, one of the most courageous 
attempts in modern times to train a backward people for 
life in a complex civilized state. 



CECIL JOHN RHODES 199 

Meantime Rhodes was coming to be known beyond 
South Africa. Queen Victoria was anxious to see the man 
who was working so well for the Empire, and his secretary, 
Jourdain, tells entertainingly of Rhodes's visit to Windsor 
and the Queen's acceptance of a photograph of him in his 
customary flannels, taken far out on the veldt. 

Another side of his life was seen only by visitors to 
Cape Town. There in the shadow of Table Mountain 
he had bought an old Dutch house called "Groote Schuur". 
Built in the early colonial style, with thatched roofs and 
spreading eaves, it seemed to him the embodiment of 
all that a house should be in that part of the world; and 
when it burned in a disastrous fire he got a rising young 
architect to rebuild it in the old style. Here he would sit 
on his "stoep", watching the shadows or the mists in the 
"kloofs" of the great mountain; and little by little he 
bought up the land about it to serve as a park for the 
people of Cape Town. 

People often abused his hospitality. Sometimes they 
even came into his house to order refreshments. But he 
was determined that the public should be allowed to 
enjoy the grandeur of the mountain, and he wanted them 
to see the Hons, zebras, and other rare animals that he 
had sent down from the north and kept on the estate. 
Like Thomas Jefferson he was intensely interested in 
finding new and useful animals and plants for naturaliza- 
tion. From the Sultan of Turkey he secured Angora goats 
from the famous royal herds; his friend Kitchener sent 
him Egyptian donkeys; and Californian fruit-growers 
came to advise his farmers on new methods of cultiva- 
tion. Little wonder that the Boer farmers thronged in to 
see one who was so interested in their welfare. 



200 OXFORD OF TODAY 

But Groote Schuur was no less fascinating to other 
visitors. The old Dutch inhabitants found in his house a 
marvelous collection of colonial furniture, and china and 
glass brought out from France by the Huguenots in the 
seventeenth century. The scholar straying into his 
panelled library found rare maps and books about the 
history of Africa, and in one section what Rhodes called 
his greatest extravagance, springing from his enthusiasm 
for Gibbon — original translations of the Roman histori- 
ans, typewritten and bound in uniform volumes. From 
all over the world visitors came to see him — Oxford 
undergraduates. Salvation Army workers, Jesuit priests, 
American mining engineers, English statesmen — and 
all were welcome. 

It was at Groote Schuur at the very height of his 
success and happiness that Rhodes made the great mis- 
take that ended his political life. For years President 
Kruger and his Dutch burghers in the South African 
Republic had resisted all his efforts at conciliation. 
Fearful of losing political control of their country, they 
had treated their immigrant "Uitlanders" so badly that 
there were constant threatenings of revolution in the 
Transvaal. Rhodes thought that he saw a chance of 
ending an intolerable state of affairs, and lent his support 
and influence to a scheme for interfering in behalf of the 
revolutionists. Forces were concentrated along the west 
border of the Transvaal, and in the last days of 1895 they 
crossed the frontier in the disastrous expedition that 
became famous as "Jameson's Raid". 

Kruger had been growing unpopular with everyone 
because of his arbitrary acts, but the Raid made him a 
hero. The German Kaiser sent him a characteristically 



CECIL JOHN RHODES 201 

indiscreet telegram of congratulation on repulsing the 
attack. The Cape Dutch waited in vain for Rhodes to 
issue a denial of complicity in a plot against their kins- 
men, till Hofmeyr was convinced that he was guilty 
of planning it and sent a telegram to congratulate Kruger. 
The English Government ofificially declared its dis- 
approval of this conspiracy against a friendly state, and 
Rhodes was left alone in his disgrace. 

As Prime Minister of Cape Colony and Director of the 
Chartered Company, he had erred in countenancing an 
attempt to overthrow a friendly government. Probably 
we shall never know what his motive was. Perhaps he 
thought that Joseph Chamberlain, the British Colonial 
Secretary, knew and approved of the scheme; perhaps 
he had decided that his old conciliatory methods were 
useless in dealing with so obstinate an opponent as 
Kruger; certainly his friends had been noticing in him a 
growing impatience and arrogance which made him all 
too reckless and eager to accomplish his ends by the 
readiest way. The Raid was both a symptom of this, and 
to some degree a lesson to him of the consequences of his 
new methods. For at one stroke, by alienating the whole 
Dutch party, he had undone the work of a lifetime. 
They would never again trust him as a leader. To his 
friends Rhodes admitted that he had done wrong. But he 
always felt that the English politicians, for all their 
"unctuous rectitude", would have applauded his act if it 
had succeeded, and he never made a public apology for 
his part in the Raid. 

During the rest of his life his greatest interest was in 
Rhodesia. The picture his bigraphers give of him there 
is a most attractive one — dressed in his loose white flan- 



202 OXFORD OF TODAY 

nels, riding his favorite pony, and camping at night on 
the open veldt in a sort of van, with a devoted colored 
servant to do the cooking and a couple of hero-worship- 
ping secretaries to write his letters for him. In this way 
he travelled about visiting his pioneer settlers, talking 
over their grievances with them, and cheering them with 
his ready sympathy. One finds extraordinary stories of 
his generosity to those of them who were in trouble. His 
bankers were in constant distress over his habit of making 
out checks on loose bits of paper torn from his notebook. 
He told Grey he had once refused to help a man, who 
in despair went off and killed himself; after that he 
never refused aid to anyone. 

Rhodes was at his best with his settlers. "Here," he 
told them, "you have the proud satisfaction that you are 
civilizing a new part of the world. Those who fall in that 
creation fall sooner than they would in ordinary life, but 
their lives are nobler and grander," They felt the truth 
of his words and repaid his admiration with love and 
respect. Their faith in him was justified in a most spec- 
tacular way when the last great Matabele rebellion broke 
out in Rhodesia in 1896. Troops and police were helpless 
against a foe who retired into the rocky fastnesses of the 
Matoppo Hills, and threatened interminable guerilla 
warfare. Rhodes succeeded in restoring peace where an 
army would have failed. He sent a message to the sav- 
ages that he wanted to have an "indaba" or council with 
them, and with only six companions he rode out into 
their hills virtually unarmed. At the very first indaba the 
young warriors were so threatening and brandished tlieir 
assegais so fiercely that his companions thought they 
would never escape alive; but Rhodes soon quieted them 



CECIL JOHN RHODES 203 

and began talking. Once he could "sit down and argue 
with a man" he usually had his way, whether the man 
were the Boer Delarey, the Jew Barnato, or the Matabele 
chief Babyan. 

The savage mind worked slowly, and it took two 
months of talk to convince them. One of his companions 
describes him sitting "day after day in the blazing sun 
talking to the chiefs and cracking jokes with them until 
we were all tired to death with them. It was a great 
pleasure to watch him while these informal indabas were 
going on. He would chaff and tease the chiefs, and some- 
times one almost fancied he was one of them by the way 
he adapted himself to their customs. His face would beam 
all over when he had the best of an argument and had 
them in a corner." His patience and perseverance pre- 
vailed in the end, and the chiefs declared for peace. 
"We shall call you always the Separator of Fighting 
Bulls," they told him. "You are our father, our friend, 
and our protector, and to you we shall look in the years 
that are coming". So he saved Rhodesia from a ruinous 
war. Many of his friends told him he had won the 
greatest victory of his life. His own comment on it one 
day after a long indaba was merely: "It is such days that 
make hfe worth living". 

It is pleasant to know that Rhodes had a few peaceful 
quiet years before his death — a period which Mr. Basil 
Williams calls his "St. Martin's Summer". His part in the 
Raid was fast being forgotten; the English public was 
all enthusiasm for him when he went to London; his 
old University conferred on him an honorary degree, and 
he had the satisfaction of receiving it in company with 
his friend Lord Kitchener. After the ceremony he was 



204 OXFORD OF TODAY 

delighted by a rousing reception at his old College. Yet 
through these last years he felt that life was all too short 
and that the end was near. One sees this in his feverish 
anxiety to push his telegraph line through to Egypt — a 
project which led to his celebrated interview with the 
German Emperor. It is shown again in his longing to see 
the Victoria FaUs, where his railway was one day to 
cross the Zambesi. "I want to get there at once", he 
used to say — "there is little satisfaction in knowing that 
the railway will reach there after one's death". And it is 
no less evident in his practical withdrawal from politics, 
leaving to others the working out of his dearest object — 
the Union of South Africa. 

So when President Kruger had his way at last and the 
great Boer War began, no one could accuse Rhodes this 
time of helping to bring on the trouble. Immediately on 
the outbreak of hostilities he went to Kimberley to re- 
main through the four months' siege by the Boers. His 
imperious temper made it difficult for him to work under 
any superior, most of all under a military officer; yet he 
rendered valuable service in organizing relief measures 
and keeping up the spirits of the inhabitants. And amid 
all the fanatical hatred aroused by the war Rhodes was 
one of the few Englishmen who saw clearly the issues of 
the struggle. "Let there be no vaunting words", he told 
his fellow Englishmen who were celebrating their vic- 
tories, "no vulgar triumph over your Dutch neighbors. 
Make them feel the bitterness is past and that the need of 
co-operation is greater than ever. Teach your children to 
remember when they go to the village school that the 
little Dutch boys and girls they find sitting on the same 
benches with them are as much a part of South Africa 



CECIL JOHN RHODES 205 

as they are themselves, and that as they learn the same 
lesson together now, so together they must work, com- 
rades for a common object — the good of South Africa". 

Such a plea Lincoln might have made amid the bitter- 
ness of our own Civil War; and like Lincoln, Rhodes 
was taken from his people at the very time when such a 
spirit was most needed. His heart had long been troubling 
him, and the malady gained upon him with dreadful 
rapidity. He made a trip to England and had to return 
to testify in a law-suit at Cape Town, but was too ill to 
appear in court. After terrible agony he died at his cot- 
tage at Muizenberg, on the 26th of March, 1902, in his 
49th year, two months too early to see the end of the 
great struggle he had so lamented. 

Like Mirabeau on his death bed, a sort of splendor 
came over Rhodes as he lay dying. Long-estranged 
friends like Hofmeyr were won to sympathy by his 
sufferings, realizing that it was a giant they were los- 
ing; and thinking perhaps of his plea at Oriel that his 
life and actions were those of a pioneer, and should be 
weighed with those of men who lived in ages when vio- 
lence prevailed, and not in civilized Europe where right 
and equity have been firmly established. And like the 
dying Roman Emperors of whom Bacon writes, Rhodes 
seemed to sum up his own life's creed in those last impres- 
sive words — "So little done . . . so much to do!" 

On a barren mountain top far in the heart of the 
Matoppos he was buried. There old Moselikatze, King 
of the Matabele, had been buried long before, "seated 
upright on the summits of his kingdom, so that even 
in death he might look over the limitless expanse below 
him". Coming on the spot Rhodes had christened it "the 



2o6 OXFORD OF TODAY 

view of the world", and had chosen it for his own burial 
place, A simple bronze slab bearing his name marks the 
grave, and seven giant granite boulders stand guard 
around it. 

It is his will that he look forth 

Across the land he won, 
The granite of the ancient North, 

Great spaces washed with sun. 
There shall he patient make his seat 

(As when the death he dared), 
And there await a people's feet 

In the paths that he prepared. 

There, till the vision he foresaw 

Splendid and whole arise, 
And unimagined Empires draw 

To council 'neath his skies. 
The immense and brooding spirit still 

Shall quicken and control. 
Living he was the land, and dead 

His soul shall be her soul!^ 

Not until after his death did many people realize how 
far-reaching was Rhodes's purpose. The South Africa 
he had come to was a medley of isolated communities, 
more diverse and discordant than our American Colonies 
before the Revolution. Rhodes came, like Alexander 
Hamilton, enough of a foreigner to be above the provin- 
ciaHsm of the colonists. His affections, like Hamilton's, 
were engrossed by the whole country of his adoption, not 
by one single state, and he devoted the best part of his 
life to working for union. In many respects the problem 
that confronted him was more complex than the one 

1 From a poem by Rudyard Kipling, read at Rhodes's funeral. 



CECIL JOHN RHODES 207 

Hamilton found. Instead of a single homogeneous people 
he had two peoples, of different races, with different 
languages, different traditions, even different forms of 
government, and living under different flags. And as an 
added difficulty there was the barbarous native popula- 
tion, far outnumbering the whites. In South Africa the 
problem was not merely how to effect union, but how 
to save civilization itself. 

It was because he saw this that Rhodes had labored so 
long to bring about co-operation between the Dutch and 
English — in his work with Hofmeyr, in his interest in the 
Boer farmers, in his insistence on "equal rights for every 
civilized man south of the Zambesi". It was for the same 
reason that he prized South Africa's connection with the 
British Empire, with its great Roman tradition of "peace, 
industry, and freedom". And after his interview with the 
Kaiser he felt he could count on the Germans to work 
with him for the same end. In a world still full of bar- 
barism, cruelty, and waste, what else could bring about 
the victory of civilization but the co-operation of all who 
were capable of fighting for it? 

Perhaps the most striking proof of Rhodes's devotion 
to these ideals is to be found in his now celebrated "Last 
Will and Testament", the sixth he had made, — dated 
July I, 1899. There his contemporaries read with aston- 
ishment of the bequest of Groote Schuur as a residence 
for the Prime Minister of the "Federation of South Afri- 
can States", of his gifts to Rhodesia, and of his generosity 
to his "old college of Oriel", 

But the world was interested most of all in the fourth 
section of the Will, where was written his plan for pro- 
moting the end of world-civilization to which he had 



2o8 OXFORD OF TODAY 

devoted his life. This was the final and broadest prac- 
tical expression of the ideal which Rhodes had more 
crudely stated as early as 1877 in a will drawn when he 
was only 24 years old. It set up a trust fund of approxi- 
mately £2,000,000 in the following terms :^ 

Whereas I consider that the education of young Colonists at 
one of the Universities in the United Kingdom is of great advan- 
tage to them for giving breadth to their views for their instruc- 
tion in life and manners and for instilling into their minds the 
advantage to the Colonies as well as to the United Kingdom of 
the retention of the Unity of the Empire. And whereas in the 
case of young Colonists studying at a University in the United 
Kingdom I attach very great importance to the University hav- 
ing a residential system such as is in force at the Universities of 
Oxford and Cambridge for without it those students are at the 
most critical period of their lives left without any supervision. 
. . . And whereas I also desire to encourage and foster an 
appreciation of the advantages which I implicitly believe will 
result from the union of the English-speaking peoples throughout 
the world and to encourage in the students from the United 
States of America who will benefit from the American Scholar- 
ships to be established for the reason above given at the Univer- 
sity of Oxford under this my Will an attachment to the country 
from which they have sprung without I hope withdrawing them 
or their sympathies from the land of their adoption or birth. 
Now therefore I direct my Trustees ... to establish for male 
students the Scholarships hereinafter directed to be established 
each of which shall be of the yearly value of £300 and be tenable 
at any College in the University of Oxford for three consecutive 
academical years. 

I direct my Trustees to establish certain Scholarships . . . 

' The quotations from the Will are given exactly as the Will was 
written, — in the unpunctuated sentences characteristic of English legal 
documents. 



CECIL JOHN RHODES 209 

as "the Colonial Scholarships". (Here follows a list of 60 scholar- 
ships apportioned among South Africa, Australasia, Canada, 
and other parts of the British Empire.) 

I further direct my Trustees to establish additional Scholar- 
ships ... as "the American Scholarships". 

I appropriate two of the American Scholarships to each of the 
present States and Territories of the United States of North 
Ameiica . . . (and) direct that of the two Scholarships 
appropriated to a State or Territory not more than one shall be 
filled up in any year so that at no time shall more than two 
Scholarships be held for the same State or Territory. 

By codicil executed in January, 1901, after stating that 
the German Emperor had made instruction in English 
compulsory in German schools, Rhodes established 15 
scholarships at Oxford for students of German birth, to 
be nominated by the German Emperor; his object, as he 
stated it, was that "a good understanding between the 
three great Powers (England, Germany, and the United 
States) will render war impossible and educational rela- 
tions make the strongest tie".^ 

In the Will itself Rhodes had stated: 

I desire that the Scholars holding the Scholarships shall be 
distributed amongst the Colleges of the University of Oxford 
and not resort in undue numbers to one or more Colleges only. 

By codicil executed October 11, 1901, he added 
directions and suggestions to guide the Trustees in the 
administration of the Scholarships, as follows: 

My desire being that the students who shall be elected to the 
Scholarships shall not be merely bookworms I direct that in 

' The German Scholarships were abolished by Act of Parliament 
during the late war, and the Trustees were authorized to apply the funds 
so released to establishing additional Colonial Scholarships. 



210 OXFORD OF TODAY 

the election of a student to a Scholarship regard shall be had to: 

(i) his literary and scholastic attainments 

(ii) his fondness for and success in manly outdoor sports such 
as cricket football and the like 

(iii) his qualities of manhood truth courage devotion to duty 
sympathy for and protection of the weak kindliness unselfishness 
and fellowship and 

(iv) his exhibition during school days of moral force of char- 
acter and of instincts to lead and to take an interest in his school- 
mates for those latter attributes will be likely in after life to guide 
him to esteem the performance of public duty his highest aim. 

As mere suggestions for the guidance of those who will have 
the choice of students for the Scholarships I record that (i) my 
ideal qualified student would combine these four qualifications 
in the proportions of 3/10 for the first 2/10 for the second 3/10 
for the third and 2/10 for the fourth qualification. . . . 

No student shall be qualified or disqualified for election to a 
Scholarship on account of his race or religious opinions. 

In this simple language inspired by the bold energy 
of the pioneer, Cecil John Rhodes, diamond miner of 
New Rush, founder of Rhodesia, and worker for world 
peace, established the international scholarships which 
bear his name. 



CHAPTER X 

HISTORY OF THE OPERATION OF THE RHODES 
SCHOLARSHIPS IN THE UNITED STATES 

By Frank Aydelotte, B.Litt., Indiana and 

Brasenose, ^05 

President 0} Swarthmore College and American 

Secretary to the Rhodes Trustees 

I. ADMINISTRATION 

Cecil John Rhodes died on March 26, 1902, and the 
first American Scholars to go to Oxford under his mag- 
nificent bequest entered in October, 1904: so speedily 
were solved the difficult problems of putting the provi- 
sions of the Will into operation, of building up the 
machinery of Committees of Selection, administering the 
qualifying examination, and choosing the first group of 
Scholars. Rhodes designated as Trustees under his will 
Lord Rosebery, Lord Grey, Lord Milner, Sir Starr 
Jameson, Sir Lewis Michell, Bourchier F. Hawksley, and 
Alfred Beit. These Trustees called Dr. (now Sir George) 
Parkin, then Head of Upper Canada College, Toronto, 
Canada, to take charge of the organization of the 
Scholarships in all parts of the world, and appointed 
Francis J. Wylie, at that time Fellow of Brasenose Col- 
lege, to act as Oxford Secretary to the Trust. 

The first problem in the organization of the Scholar- 
ships was to arrange with the Colleges at Oxford the 



212 OXFORD OF TODAY 

terms on which they would be willing to receive Rhodes 
Scholars. The intimacy of the life in an Oxford college, 
the care with which the college authorities investigate 
the personal antecedents and intellectual ability of the 
men whom they accept, and the peculiar requirements of 
the University made these problems complicated. Rhodes 
had wished that his Scholars should be distributed 
throughout all the Colleges of the University rather than 
congregated in one or two. Arrangements were accord- 
ingly made with the larger Colleges to receive four or 
five Rhodes Scholars each year, and with the others to 
take a number in proportion to their size. Since most 
Colleges insist, or at least prefer, that applicants for 
admission should have passed Responsions before coming 
to Oxford, this examination was required as a qualifica- 
tion for all candidates for the Rhodes Scholarships. 

After these arrangements in Oxford were completed, 
Dr. Parkin visited all the countries in the world from 
which Rhodes Scholars were to be selected. He held in 
1903 a series of conferences with the heads of American 
universities in various parts of the country: he met the 
Association of American Universities in New York, 
the Association of State Universities in Washington, the 
Association of Schools and Colleges of New England in 
Boston, and held regional conferences in Chicago, Atlanta, 
Kansas City, Spokane, Denver, and San Francisco. In 
these conferences the whole idea of the Scholarships and 
the plans for administering them were discussed in detail. 
Rhodes had evidently intended the Scholarships for 
graduates of secondary schools who should get at Oxford 
their only university training, but it was the opinion of 
the majority that American boys would profit more 



AMERICAN RHODES SCHOLARSHIPS 213 

largely from the Scholarships and better fulfill the wish 
of the Founder that they should remain primarily Ameri- 
can citizens, if they had first completed a part, or the 
whole, of an American university course before going to 
Oxford — a decision the wisdom of which has been amply 
borne out by experience. It was accordingly fixed by 
the Trustees as one of the requirements that American 
students must have finished at least their sophomore year 
in some recognized American degree-granting university 
or college. A Committee of Selection was appointed by 
Dr. Parkin for each state in the Union, consisting usually 
of the leading college and university presidents of the 
state, to whom were added in some cases public men of 
recognized position and impartiality. In most states the 
plan of inter-university competition was decided upon. 
In a few states, where there was only one institution of 
higher education, the nomination of Scholars was left tc 
that institution. In California, Maine, Vermont, and 
Washington, systems of rotation between the institu- 
tions were arranged. 

The qualifying examination, equivalent to Respon- 
sions (for which 236 candidates offered themselves in the 
various states, of whom 120 passed), was first held in 
April, 1904, and the first group of Rhodes Scholars was 
elected in May and June. Five states (Arizona, Florida, 
Mississippi, Nevada, and New Mexico) did not send 
Scholars that year. In 1905 there were ten states (Ala- 
bama, Arkansas, Arizona, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, 
North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, and Wyoming) 
in which no candidates appeared. In 1906 there was no 
election, the arrangement being that all states should 
elect Scholars two years out of three. This arrangement 



214 OXFORD OF TODAY 

was kept up until 1916, Scholars being elected in 1904, 
1905, 1907, 1908, 1910, 1911, 1913, and 1914. In 1914, 
however, a new plan was decided upon, to go into effect 
two years later, by which the states were divided into 
three groups of sixteen each, two groups to elect each 
year. Consequently, since 19 16 the United States has 
been entitled to elect thirty-two Scholars annually, each 
state choosing one Scholar every two years out of three, 
as before. With the inauguration of this new schedule, 
plans were made for holding the qualifying examination 
in every state every year in order that candidates might 
take it as soon as they were prepared. When the United 
States entered the war in 191 7, elections to the Rhodes 
Scholarships were postponed, to be resumed again in the 
autumn of 1919. 

The scheme outlined above was undoubtedly the wisest 
and most secure method of administering the Scholarships 
in the United States during the early years. As time 
went on, however, the advisability of certain changes in 
the system became apparent to Dr. Parkin and the 
Trustees. In a few states ex-Rhodes Scholars had been 
appointed members of Committees of Selection, but for 
the most part no use whatever was made of the experi- 
ence and loyalty of these men in selecting the Scholars 
who should go to Oxford. In the second place, the 
Scholarships suffered throughout the first fifteen years 
of their history from the lack of any central bureau in the 
United States where information could be obtained about 
Oxford and the regulations governing the appointments. 
Some of the college presidents who were members of 
Committees of Selection were familiar with Oxford and 



AMERICAN RHODES SCHOLARSHIPS 215 

understood the Oxford system, but most of them had no 
knowledge except what they could get from official cir- 
culars. In either case they were busy men who could 
not be expected to devote much time to giving publicity 
to the Scholarships or to advising individual candidates. 
There were in addition a certain number of complaints 
due to bitter institutional rivalries in various states. 
Where institutions showed a tendency to expect their 
"representative" on the Committee of Selection to fight 
to obtain the Scholarship, the result was sometimes 
bad; in other instances where "institutional courtesy" 
was used in making the appointments, the effect was 
even worse, in that it produced a tendency to rotate 
the appointments without due regard to the merits of 
individual candidates. The qualifying examination, 
furthermore, first instituted as a safeguard to the Colleges 
in Oxford, proved in practice to have very little value 
for this purpose while it unquestionably barred out a great 
many otherwise excellent candidates who had not taken 
courses in the Classics, and who were unwilling to work 
up the minimum of Latin and Greek required. And this 
requirement of Responsions as a qualifying examination 
tended through all the early years of the Scholarships to 
cause them to be thought of as intended primarily for 
Classical students, which was certainly not the intention 
of Rhodes or the wish of the Trustees. 

With the resumption of the Scholarships after the war, 
an attempt has been made to remedy the defects indi- 
cated in the preceding paragraph. The task of making 
the selections was entrusted by Dr. Parkin to the group 
of ex-Rhodes Scholars now living in this country, Com- 
mittees being entirely made up of these men, except for 



2i6 OXFORD OF TODAY 

the chairmen, who have in most cases remained the same 
as those before the war. The general responsibility for 
giving notice of elections, advising candidates and 
answering their questions, receiving applications, follow- 
ing up references, and directing the work of Committees 
has been given to the Secretaries of the Committees of 
Selection, who are in nearly all states ex- Rhodes Schol- 
ars. A list of names and addresses of these State Secre- 
taries is included each year in the Memorandum of 
Regulations issued by the Trustees; the current list for 
1922 will be found in Appendix J in this volume. The 
oversight of these Committees and the general responsi- 
bility for the interests of the Scholarships in the United 
States have been entrusted to an American Secretary. 
The qualifying examination has, with the consent of the 
Oxford Colleges, been abandoned and Rhodes Scholars 
are usually excused from all entrance and matriculation 
examinations at Oxford. 

The first effect of the new method of administration 
has been a large increase in the number of candidates 
(425 in 1919, 400 in 1920, and over 500 in 1921) and a 
consequent improvement in the quality of the men 
selected. In the early years of the Scholarships, appoint- 
ments, as has been indicated, frequently went begging. 
Now the situation is reversed; since the resumption of 
elections after the war, candidates have offered them- 
selves each year in all states, but the new Committees 
have adopted a policy of refusing to appoint in cases 
where, no matter how numerous the candidates, no 
one of them, in the opinion of the Committee, comes 
up to the standard which should be required for so 
valuable a Scholarship. Vacancies thus created are 



AMERICAN RHODES SCHOLARSHIPS 217 

thrown open to strong candidates in other states for 
whom no appointments were available, a proceeding 
which tends to some extent to make up for the inequal- 
ities in population between the various states. 

II. THE RECORD OF THE AMERICAN RHODES SCHOLARS 

So much for the machinery by which American Rhodes 
Scholars have been selected. The next question is, what 
has been the character of the men chosen? There has 
now been sufficient time and experience to make possible 
at least a preliminary judgment. There are nearly 350 
ex-Rhodes Scholars living in the United States, the oldest 
of whom are reaching the age of forty. Throughout the 
whole history of the Scholarships a great deal has been 
said and written about these men, including a great deal 
of unmerited praise and more unmerited blame. The 
Rhodes Scholars have been chosen from so many dif- 
ferent states, they live at Oxford in so many different 
colleges, and they scatter after their return to so many 
different localities that it is practically impossible for 
any one man to know them as a group before they go to 
Oxford, at Oxford, and after their return. Under these 
circumstances the only possible way of getting a compre- 
hensive and accurate opinion of the group is by the use 
of statistics. Professor R. W. Burgess of Brown Uni- 
versity was accordingly induced to undertake a statistical 
study of the record of the Rhodes Scholars, which was 
published in full in the American Oxonian for January, 
1 92 1. The results of Professor Burgess' study show 
that the record of this group of men is extremely credita- 
ble, although all friends of the Scholarships hope that 
the next fifteen years will see it still further improved. 



2i8 OXFORD OF TODAY 

Something over 500 Rhodes Scholars have been 
appointed from the beginning down to the present/ of 
whom nearly 350 are now living in the United States, 
about 130 are at Oxford, and 19 are living in other coun- 
tries. The Rhodes Scholars represent 172 American 
colleges and universities; 39 institutions have sent as 
many as five or more, while seven have been represented 
by ten or more Rhodes Scholars. Of this last group Har- 
vard and Princeton lead with 18 each, Yale has 13, 
Brown, 11, and the Universities of Idaho and Virginia, 
ten each. The average age of the Rhodes Scholars at 
the time they enter Oxford is 22 years and four months; 
the youngest are 19, the oldest nearly 25. Prior to their 
selection most of them had taken at least the A.B. 
degree in an American university; only 14 per cent had 
had less than a full college course in America; while 
19 per cent had had one or more years of graduate or 
professional study. Eighty per cent of those sent from 
institutions where there is a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa 
are members of that society. Forty per cent represented 
their American colleges or universities in one or more 
branches of athletics. 

The second part of Professor Burgess' study is con- 
cerned with the record of the Rhodes Scholars at Oxford. 
The courses taken by the whole group matriculated from 
1904-14 are best shown by the following table: 

1 The figures given here and in subsequent paragraphs were accurate 
in the spring of 1921. The numbers and averages change of course each 
year. 



AMERICAN RHODES SCHOLARSHIPS 219 

Per Cent 
Number of Total 

Law 115 32.7 

Modern History and Economics 60 17. 1 

Humanities, including the Classics, Philos- 
ophy (6), and Anthropology (4) 59 16.8 

English Language and Literature 26 7.4 

Theology 25 7.1 

Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Engi- 
neering 21 6.0 

French, German and Spanish 13 3.7 

Physiology and Medical Subjects 10 2.9 

Geology and Forestry 6 1.7 

Music 3 .9 

Record incomplete' 13 3.7 

About four-fifths of the men have taken the B.A. 
degree at Oxford in one of the so-called Honour Schools; 
one-fifth have taken research degrees. The men taking 
research degrees are possibly stronger, or at least better 
prepared, than those taking the Honour Schools. The 
research men include more than their proportionate 
number of members of Phi Beta Kappa and more of the 
men from the large universities on the Atlantic seaboard. 
But the men taking the Honour Schools are the only 
ones whose record it is possible to compare with the 
record of other students at the University, for it is only 
the Honours B.A. men who get their degrees with 
classes indicating grades — First, Second, Third, or Fourth, 
as the case may be. 

The following table gives in summary form the record 

'This item includes four men who died and three who resigned early 
in their Oxford course. 



220 OXFORD OF TODAY 

of this group of four-fifths of the Rhodes Scholars who 
have taken the Honours B.A. at Oxford as compared 
with the whole group of Oxford Honours men, and with 
the other Oxford Scholarship men alone: 

Other 
All Honours Rhodes Scholarship 
Men Scholars Men Alone 

Firsts . . 13% 15% 33% 

Seconds 36% 49% 44% 

First and Seconds Combined . 50% 64% 77% 

Thirds 37% 29% 19% 

Fourths 14% 7% 3% 

While the record of the Rhodes Scholars is distinctly 
better than the record of the entire group of Honours 
men, it is not as good as the record of the other Scholar- 
ship men ; that is, of the English public-school men who 
win Scholarships in the Oxford Colleges by open competi- 
tive examinations. If the other Scholarship men and 
Exhibitioners are taken together, their percentage of 
Firsts and Seconds combined is only 66, as against 
64 for the Rhodes Scholars. 

The record of the Rhodes Scholars is not uniform in 
the different schools. In Mathematics, Chemistry, and 
Physics only four per cent of the men have taken Firsts. 
In Law, Physiology, and Geology, on the other hand, 27 
per cent have taken Firsts. The Englishmen do better 
in those subjects which depend upon previous preparation 
in the "public" schools ; the Rhodes Scholars do better in 
subjects which do not depend on preparatory school 
work. 

American Rhodes Scholars have secured a total of 
23 university and college prizes. Men who were members 



AMERICAN RHODES SCHOLARSHIPS 221 

of Phi Beta Kappa have a slightly higher record than 
those men who were not, and the Rhodes Scholars who 
were unusually young or unusually old at the time they 
went to Oxford have a higher record than the men of 
average age. Rhodes Scholars from the larger states 
make a better record at Oxford than those from smaller 
states. The men from the Middle Atlantic States have 
the best all-round record, those from the South Central 
States the second best, while those from the West and 
North Central States stand lowest. 

It must always be remembered in making these com- 
parisons, that the Rhodes Scholars have had more aca- 
demic experience than the Englishmen with whom they 
are being compared; their record ought perhaps to be 
better than it is on that account. Over against this 
advantage is the very real difificulty of mastering a 
totally different system of instruction and examination. 

Unquestionably Rhodes Scholars should be compared 
with the English holders of open Scholarships rather than 
with the whole group of Honours men ; that is, with the 
best single group in the University. One group of 
Rhodes Scholars — the nearly one-third who have read 
Law at Oxford — do not come ofiF badly in this comparison, 
and it seems easily possible that the United States will 
in the not far distant future produce a set of Rhodes 
Scholars who, taking Firsts and Seconds together, will 
equal the record of the English Scholarship men. 

The really important test of the Rhodes Scholars is 
their careers in the United States after their return. It is 
of course extremely difficult to make statistical tables 
which will give any accurate indication of their success. 



222 OXFORD OF TODAY 

A few facts, however, seem to be significant. In the first 
place it may be pointed out that all the men have re- 
turned ; of over 500 American Rhodes Scholars appointed 
so far, only one has become a British subject. In several 
cases American Rhodes Scholars have been offered attract- 
ive positions at Oxford, but they have felt that their work 
lay at home. Those who are in missionary work or who 
represent American business houses in foreign countries 
are only an apparent exception. Thus has experience 
proved groundless the fears, so often expressed at the 
time when the Rhodes Scholarships were first announced, 
that the Oxford life would make Englishmen out of the 
Scholars. On the contrary the evidence shows conclu- 
sively that they come back better Americans for their 
experience at Oxford. 

Another significant fact is the tendency of returned 
American Scholars to congregate in the large cities where 
professional competition is most severe. That is, to a 
certain extent, an indication of success. About 350 ex- 
Rhodes Scholars are living in the United States, and if 
they returned to the states from which they were ap- 
pointed, there would be about seven in each state. 
Instead there are 46 in New York, 27 in Massachusetts, 
17 in Illinois, 13 in California, and ten each in Maryland, 
New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Texas. Three states 
have only one ex-Rhodes Scholar each, seven more have 
only two, and nine have only three. 

About half of the Rhodes Scholars take further gradu- 
ate or professional study after their return, most of them 
studying Law or Medicine or working for the degree of 
Ph.D. About one-third of the men have published books 
or scientific papers, these being in most cases the men 



AMERICAN RHODES SCHOLARSHIPS 223 

who have gone into academic work. The occupations of 
the 303 men of the years 1904-14 for whom records are 
available, are shown in the following table : 

Education 114 

Divided : 

College presidents, deans, etc 7 

Other college teachers 84 

Educational administration 7 

Secondary school 1 1 

Full time, Law, Theology, Medicine 5 

Law 72 

Business ■. . 38 

Social and religious work (including 12 ministers) ... 23 

Government service 15 

Graduate or professional students 10 

Scientific work 10 

Literary and editorial 8 

Medical work 7 

Miscellaneous 6 

303 

The largest single group is in education, and here the 
positions which they occupy are some indication of their 
success. There are about 100 of them altogether scat- 
tered among 75 colleges and universities throughout the 
country. The average age of these 100 men is 33 years. 
They have all of them had a late start, and it is dis- 
tinctly creditable that one-third are already full pro- 
fessors, one-third assistant or associate professors, and 
only one-third instructors. 

The next group is made up of the 24 per cent of the 
men who are practising law; this group is one of the most 



224 OXFORD OF TODAY 

successful. It is very interesting to note that of all the 
men who have gone into the practice of law, more than 
half have done so without taking any work in an Ameri- 
can law school either before they went to Oxford or after 
their return. They are practising law successfully in 
this country on the basis of their Oxford legal education. 
Another ten per cent of the men have gone into business, 
and in some ways they are perhaps the most remarkably 
successful group of all. The remainder have gone into 
social and religious work, or into miscellaneous occupa- 
tions. 

Statistics, however, tell only imperfectly the story of 
the work and personality of any group of men. The 
inadequacy of this statistical, study as a representation of 
the whole value of the Rhodes Scholarships is shown 
strikingly in the case of two Rhodes Scholars who have 
recently died. One of these was a professor of English in 
the University of Washington. He was not a man whose 
record at Oxford could be represented in statistical form. 
He was a candidate for a research degree, but, through 
the unfortunate loss of his notes and papers at the last 
moment, was unable to finish his dissertation and was 
compelled to leave without taking a degree. Neverthe- 
less his work and his writings show how much Oxford 
meant to him, and how much of that meaning he was 
able to translate into terms of service to an American 
institution. He was a believer in the qualitative as 
opposed to quantitative theory of culture, and he put 
that belief into operation not by trying to get university 
statutes modified, but by applying it in his own work. He 
gave his students in English Literature a great many 
personal conferences. He influenced their reading, and 



AMERICAN RHODES SCHOLARSHIPS 225 

directed their work so that they became students of a 
subject rather than merely followers of detailed courses. 
He thought for himself and encouraged original thought 
in his students, which is the greatest work that a teacher 
can do. The result was that when he died there was a 
chorus of grief and admiration for his work from his 
students and his colleagues which bore eloquent testi- 
mony to the unique place which he held in his institution. 
Another Rhodes Scholar decided that his best course 
at Oxford was to take Honour Moderations, the work for 
which required two years of his Scholarship, thus making 
it impossible for him to take the Honour School of 
Literae Humaniores, which would have required two 
years more. He therefore left Oxford without taking a 
degree. On his return to this country he became a 
teacher in one of our most important secondary schools. 
As the war went on he became more and more convinced 
that he himself owed some kind of personal service to the 
cause of the Allies. The result was that in 1916 he re- 
signed his position, went to England, enlisted in the 
English Army, and was given a commission as Second 
Lieutenant in the Grenadier Guards. He was killed 
May 18, 1918, near Arras, by a German bomb. No 
Rhodes Scholar who has ever gone to Oxford has done 
more truly the work which the Founder intended — of 
cultivating good relations between America and England. 
His record at Oxford is one which the coarse thumb and 
finger of statistics cannot measure. But his character — 
his enthusiasm, his modesty, his capacity for friendship — 
make his career a tie of flesh and blood and affection be- 
tween all those of both countries whose good fortune it 
was to know him. 



226 OXFORD OF TODAY 

These are only two instances of many which show how 
inadequate statistics are to represent human truth in 
its entirety. It is impossible to say from any such study 
what the effect of the Rhodes Scholars has been so far on 
public opinion in this country, America has lately fin- 
ished the adventure of sending, not five hundred men, 
but several millions to Europe to engage not in education 
but in warfare for the purpose of settling certain impor- 
tant European questions. Along with our soldiers went 
a large group of mature, influential men — experts, sci- 
entists, historians, economists, and so on — to study the 
problems of war and the problems of peace. Have those 
men, since their return — and they have almost to a man 
come back with a very strong interest in European prob- 
lems — succeeded in giving to the people of the United 
States any strong and abiding interest in Europe? Any- 
body who looks at the country at the present time will at 
least have some doubt in his mind about the answer; and 
so must there be some doubt about the influence of this 
very small group of Rhodes Scholars, especially in times 
such as we have just been passing through. 

Perhaps their greatest influence so far has been in 
education, and perhaps there is no career in the United 
States at the present time which represents more accu- 
rately what Rhodes thought of as public life, no career 
which offers a better opportunity to influence public 
opinion than that of professor or administrative officer in 
one of our American colleges or universities. 



APPENDIX A 

LIBRARIES, MUSEUMS, AND OTHER 
UNIVERSITY INSTITUTIONS 

By C.C. Brinton, A.B., 

Massachusetts and New College, 'iQ 
THE BODLEIAN LIBRARY 

The Bodleian Library was founded in 1602 by Sir 
Thomas Bodley. Originally housed in a room over the 
Divinity School, it has grown to occupy all the buildings 
of the Old Examination Schools quadrangle, the Rad- 
cliffe Camera, and several underground store rooms. 

Something of the atmosphere of thoughtful seclusion 
which is the peculiar charm of the Bodleian may be felt 
in the picturesque Gothic quadrangle of the Old Schools. 
But the heart of the Library is the old Reading Room, 
the beautiful fifteenth-century room of the first founda- 
tion with its timber roof, its portraits and its stained glass 
windows. Here is a place where books seem at home, and 
study as much a part of things as the walls themselves. 
The monastic intensity and devotion to learning which 
raised the Library seems built into its stones. There is a 
quality and atmosphere about the Bodleian not to be 
found in the great modern libraries of the world. 

But it is not to be thought that the Bodleian is merely 
a mediaeval library. Like most European libraries its 
choicest treasures are its manuscripts and rare editions. 



228 OXFORD OF TODAY 

consulted by scholars of the world. But it is also a great 
general library. It is in fact the largest university library 
in the world; the second largest library in the British 
Empire (being surpassed in size only by the British Mu- 
seum) ; and about the eighth in size among the libraries 
of the entire world. It contains over 1,000,000 bound 
volumes (comprising some 2,000,000 separate titles), and 
over 40,000 volumes of manuscripts. By a grant from the 
Stationers' Company, dated 1610, and now merged in the 
Copyright Act, the Bodleian enjoys the right to a copy of 
every book printed and copyrighted in the United 
Kingdom. Under this grant it acquired before the war 
some 40,000 volumes annually. Its accession from all 
sources averaged 60,000 volumes a year. 

The Old Examination Schools, now forming the main 
building of the Bodleian, were begun late in the fifteenth 
century and finished in the reign of James I. Their 
most conspicuous feature, and one of the most remark- 
able bits of architecture in Oxford, is the inner fagade of 
the eastern tower of the quadrangle, on which from base 
to pinnacle are represented five orders of classical archi- 
tecture. In this building are kept all the manuscripts and 
almost all books of the collection printed before 1824. 

The RadclifTe Camera, adjacent to the Old Schools, is 
a unique and beautiful circular building, surmounted by 
a dome, erected in the eighteenth century under the di- 
rection of James Gibbs, a pupil of Wren. It is perhaps 
the finest building of Renaissance inspiration in Oxford. 
The Camera contains most books of the collection printed 
since 1885, and a general reading room supplied with 
15,000 selected books, leading periodicals, and catalogues 
of books and manuscripts. 



UNIVERSITY INSTITUTIONS 229 

COLLEGE LIBRARIES 

Every College or Hall has a library of its own. As a 
rule these libraries consist of two parts: 

1. The Library proper, which has been gradually 
accumulating in the course of several centuries and which 
often contains manuscripts and rare editions of great 
value. These can be consulted on permission granted by 
the Librarian of the College. 

2. The Undergraduates' Library, which consists of 
modern literature and standard works used in reading 
for the various examinations. These books may com- 
monly be borrowed, often even for the. duration of the 
vacations. These libraries are very convenient for col- 
lege members and a great deal of work which is not 
strictly research can be done in them. The reader has an 
opportunity to browse among the books, and can take 
those he wishes to study back to the quiet of his room. 

Among the special collections of interest may be 
mentioned; the library at Queen's College, containing 
in addition to the ordinary collection about five thousand 
volumes in the Slavic languages, or relating to Slavic 
culture; the library at Worcester, rich in seventeenth 
century manuscripts on history and literature; and 
that of Christ Church which has a valuable collection of 
books on music and on early Scandinavian literature. 

SPECIAL LIBRARIES . 

In addition to the Bodleian and the college libraries, 
there are at Oxford numerous special collections of great 
importance. The convenience of these smaller libraries 
is apparent. They permit the reader in a definite field 



230 OXFORD OF TODAY 

to have free access to the books he most needs ; the delay 
inevitable in a large library is saved; and the reader 
can often borrow supplementary books from the Bodleian 
for use in these libraries : 

Codrington Library (All Souls College) is especially 
rich in works bearing upon modern history and law. 
It contains a Reading Room where books from the 
General Library also may be consulted. 

Maitland Library, founded to commemorate the 
work of the late Dr. F. W. Maitland, Professor of 
English Law at Cambridge University, is intended to 
assist advanced work and research in social and legal 
history. To further this object, it has been connected 
with the Corpus Professor's Seminar, and provision is 
especially made for works required in the Seminar. 

Taylorian Library, devoted to modern languages and 
literature, contains about fifty thousand volumes, com- 
prising the chief philological, literary, and historical 
works of the principal European languages. Its reading 
rooms are open to all members of the University; and 
under certain conditions works may be borrowed for 
outside use. 

The Library and Museum of the Indian Institute. The 
library contains over twenty-three thousand volumes 
intended to represent very fully the languages and culture 
of ancient, mediaeval and modern India. It is particu- 
larly valuable for two classes of students: those inter- 
ested in the history or present condition of India; and 
those interested in Sanskrit and other Oriental Lan- 
guages. The Museum supplements the library in giving 
a synopsis of Indian life and customs. 

The Raddiffe Library, located near the University 



UNIVERSITY INSTITUTIONS 231 

Museum, was founded by the will of John Radcliffe, 
M.D., in 1714, and was originally housed in the Rad- 
cliffe Camera. It now consists of periodicals and books 
in foreign tongues on Mathematics, Science and Medi- 
cine. The Anthropological library of the late Sir Edward 
Tyler has recently been deposited in the Radcliffe Library. 
In addition to the foregoing libraries, the following 
special collections of books are available for the use of 
students : 

The Beit Library of Colonial History 

The Library of the English School 

The Hope Library (Entomology) 

The Botanical Library, Botanical Gardens 

The Geographical Library of the School of Geography. The 
library contains over five thousand volumes and thirteen thou- 
sand sheets of maps. 
. The Library of Art and Archaeology (Ashmolean Museum) 

Barnett House Library (Economics and Politics) 

THE ASHMOLEAN MUSEUM OF ART AND ARCHAEOLOGY 

This, the earliest English museum, had its origin in a 
collection of rarities and botanical specimens formed at 
South Lambeth by John Tradescant (d. 1638) and known 
in its day as Tradescant's Ark. It was given to the 
University by Elias Ashmole in 1679, and the Ashmolean 
Building erected to contain it. It has steadily developed 
by bequests and by the transfer of various antiquities 
from other departments of the University. The scien- 
tific collections have been placed in the University 
Museum, and the other collections transferred to a new 
Ashmolean Building in connection with the University 
Galleries; so that now the art collections of the Univer- 



232 OXFORD OF TODAY 

sity, vying in importance with those of many famous 
Continental museums, are all under one roof. The 
museum is divided into three departments: the Anti- 
quarium, the Fine Arts Galleries, and Classical Archae- 
ology. 

For the purposes of the art student the Ashmolean 
is very complete. The Ruskin Drawing School which 
occupies a room on the ground floor, affords practical 
instruction. Its students have free access to the collec- 
tions of the museum for purposes of study, copying or 
sketching. The Ashmolean has a still wider appeal to 
those who wish to study art as a means of aesthetic en- 
joyment. It has a very complete and representative 
collection, ranging from the earliest prehistoric ait 
down to modern art. Everything that is important 
in art cannot, of course, be represented in any one 
museum ; and the supremely great things must be sought 
in London and on the Continent. But the Ashmolean 
can afford an excellent course of instruction for the 
beginner in the appreciation of art, and the initiated 
will not fail to find much that is very worth his while. 
Among the treasures of the museum are: the original 
Tradescant collection, now set apart as a museum in 
museo; the Egyptian antiquities; the Greek vases; the 
unique collection illustrating the civilisation of the Aegean 
Age brought back from Knossos in Crete by Sir Arthur 
Evans; King Alfred's jewel; the Westwood collection 
of fictile ivories, one of the most complete in existence; 
a remarkable series of original drawings by Michael 
Angelo and Raphael; etchings by Rembrandt, Van 
Dyck and others; a number of Turner's works ; a splen- 
did collection of oaintings of the Pre-Raphaehte school; 



UNIVERSITY INSTITUTIONS 233 

a collection of primitive Italian paintings; other Italian 
and Flemish paintings; some marbles and terra cottas 
of the Florentine school; the famous Arundel marbles, 
including the "Oxford head" of Sappho; two beautiful 
candelabra from the Villa Hadrian at Tivoli. 

THE UNIVERSITY MUSEUM 

The University Museum houses thescientificcollections 
of the University, illustrating all the fields of natural 
science — zoology, geology, paleontology, petrology, min- 
eralogy, entomology, and others. The Pitt Rivers Mu- 
seum, containing a large and very important anthropo- 
logical collection, is an annex of the University Museum. 

THE CLARENDON PRESS 

The Clarendon Press, or University Printing Office, 
formerly occupied the Clarendon Building situated near 
the Bodleian library. It has been removed to modern 
quarters on Walton Street. The Press is one of the largest 
printing establishments in the world. In addition to the 
ordinary printing work of the University, it is devoted 
chiefly to the printing of works of a learned or educa- 
tional character. It is exceptionally well equipped for 
printing works of scholarship, and works in foreign 
languages, as well as for the reproduction of manuscripts. 
The Press publishes much of the work of Oxford fellows 
and research students. 

The University possesses also numerous scientific 
laboratories, a Botanical Garden, and a large park which 
is open to the public. 



APPENDIX B 
EXPENSES AT OXFORD 

By F. J. Wylie, M.A., Oxford Secretary to the Rhodes 
Trustees {Some time Fellow of Brasenose College) 

The cost of an Oxford education is high: not higher, 
perhaps, than it is at some of the big Eastern universities 
in the United States, but still high. This is due to vari- 
ous causes: to the residential collegiate system, to the 
character of the teaching (which is largely tutorial), and 
to traditional standards of living. Moreover, the con- 
ditions of life at Oxford make it difficult for a man to 
add in any way to his income, and wholly impossible 
for him to "earn his way through", as he might in 
America. 

It is true that a not inconsiderable proportion of the 
actual cost of the education of every undergraduate is 
borne by the corporate revenues of the colleges and the 
University, which are derived from endowments. This 
contribution, however, still leaves us with a remainder of 
necessary undergraduate expenditure quite sufficient to 
make the budgeting of a Rhodes Scholar a nice and 
anxious operation. 

Undergraduate expenditure varies, obviously, with the 
individual; and even, to some extent, with the college — 
for, in the first place, the general standard of living in any 
college depends upon the general level of income of the 
undergraduates at the college (which is not the same for 



EXPENSES 235 

all colleges) , and in the second place colleges differ in the 
proportion of the cost of each undergraduate which they 
can afford to throw upon their corporate revenues 
derived from endowments. It is these variations that 
make general statements difficult. 

Official estimates are apt to be based on minimums, 
and to that extent are misleading, even though they may 
have figures in support. And in any case a Rhodes 
Scholar, coming as he does from overseas, with no home 
at his disposal for vacations, no family doctor or dentist, 
no opportunity of "putting down to the family", as the 
English boy quite frequently can, now one thing now 
another, must be prepared with a margin for which 
official estimates make little allowance. r 

Under the heading of Expenses fall payments to the 
University, payments to the college, and, of course, 
personal expenses. 

To the University an undergraduate pays on matricu- 
lation an entrance fee (£4. o. o.) and subsequently 
"terminal dues" amounting to £4. 10. o. annually. In 
addition he pays for any examinations which he may 
take. Ordinarily, the examination fees, from first to last, 
come to about £12. o. o. A Rhodes Scholar, who gets 
Senior or Junior Standing, obtains exemption from some 
of the earlier examinations; but the fee which he pays 
for admission to the Standing corresponds roughly to 
the fees which he would have paid for the examinations 
from which he obtains exemption. Financially, there- 
fore, the result is much the same whatever standing he 
obtain. Lastly, on taking his B.A. degree, an under- 
graduate pays to the University a fee of £7. 10. o. 

It is, however, to the college that the bulk of an 



236 



OXFORD OF TODAY 



undergraduate's payments are made. Those include, 
generally, an entrance fee, and thereafter terminal 
charges for room rent, tuition, board, service, laundry, 
athletic clubs, coal, lighting, and any groceries or other 
supplies which may be bought from the college "Stores". 

The terminal bills presented by the college are known 
as Battels, and in most cases are presented for payment 
at the beginning of the term succeeding that in which 
the debt is incurred. I have before me a number of such 
Battels from nine different colleges. They average about 
£58. 10. o: and I think that an average man's Battels, at 
an average college, to-day, might safely be put at a figure 
approaching £60. 

How is that sum made up? The three specimen Battels 
which follow — in each case an actual Battel bill for 
Michaelmas term 1920 — will answer that question. 

SPECIMEN BATTELS 





A 


B 


C 


University Dues 

Colleges Charges — including 
Room Rent, Service, Rates 
and Taxes, Furniture De- 
preciation, electric light, etc. 

Tuition 

Weekly Battels: 

Buttery, Kitchen, Stores, Coal, 
etc 


£ I. 

20. 
10. 

26. 
I. 

2. 


10. 

I. 
0. 

12. 
18. 
12. 
9- 
12. 


0. 

0. 
0. 

2. 

4- 
6. 
0. 
2. 


E I. 10. 0. 

19. 16. 10. 
9. 0. 0. 

22. 6. 0. 
3- 6. 5- 

I. 6. 
2. I. 0. 


£ I. 10. 0. 

15. 16. 11. 
9. 0. 0. 

25. 17. 10. 
2. 3- 5. 


Bicycle Shed 

Gate Fines and Damage Fund . 
Clubs 








f'3- 


15- 


2. 


58. I. 9- 


56. 10. 2. 



If, then, we reckon terminal Battels as about £60 



EXPENSES i^2il 

a term, we get a total of something like £i8o for the 
academic year of three terms. Battels, however, make 
no allowance for clothes, books, amusements, doctors, 
charities, or for any of the hundred and one small 
personal expenses which, unimportant if taken sep- 
arately, amount in the aggregate to something con- 
siderable. To Battels, therefore, we must add, say, 
£25 a term, which brings our total for the six months of 
the academic year to about £255. For the 26 weeks of 
vacation — to cover board, lodging, travelling, and inci- 
dental expyenses — the Rhodes Scholar will spend from 
£140 to £150. In other words, from first to last, his 
year will cost the average Rhodes Scholar from £390 
to £400. This figure represents, of course, a rough esti- 
mate. Some men may not reach it: many, without 
extravagance, will exceed it. 

In these calculations I have assumed that the under- 
graduate is living "in college", as indeed a Rhodes Scholar 
is expected to do for two years out of the three for which 
his Scholarship runs. Before the war, it used to be 
maintained, not without justification, that a man could 
live more economically in lodgings than in college. 
Probably it still holds that, by going far afield, he can 
find lodgings in which he can live, retired, at smaller 
cost than would be possible, even with rigid economy, in 
college; but in general the difference in cost between 
life in college and life in "diggings" has undoubtedly 
lessened, owing to the fact that, while colleges have not 
raised their charges in proportion to the rise in the cost 
of living, landladies have. Certainly it is a delusion to 
think that the year in lodgings can do anything towards 
wiping out the deficits of the years in college. 



238 OXFORD OF TODAY 

In addition to the current expenditure of any year, 
there are a few initial expenses for which a Rhodes 
Scholar must be prepared. He must provide himself 
with linen, cutlery, and crockery for his rooms in college. 
These will cost him perhaps £20. If he plan any special 
outlay on clothes, he must make provision for that. 
There will also be a few inevitable entrance fees to swell 
his earlier accounts. As a Rhodes Scholar receives the 
first quarter of his Scholarship (£75) on coming into 
residence, and has not normally any considerable pay- 
ments to make in his first term, either to college or to the 
University, he is for the moment in a position to meet 
these initial charges. That does not, however, alter the 
fact that the Scholarship is not sufficient to cover the 
ordinary expenses of a full year — much less to meet in 
addition the non-recurring expenses which face a man 
at the start. Normally undergraduates on coming into 
residence pay "caution money", varying from £20 to 
£40, which is returned when they take their degree. 
Most colleges, however, remit this charge in the case of 
Rhodes Scholars. 

What is the upshot of this review? It is that a Rhodes 
Scholar must not, under present conditions, expect his 
Scholarship to meet expenses, even with the bonus of 
£50, which, brings the total stipend at present up to 
•£350 per year. How much more will he need? That 
question does not admit of an answer fitted to every 
man and every college. It may, however, be sug- 
gested that he should arrive with £20 in his pocket. 
If, in addition, he can see his way to another £40 a 
year, he should be able to come through on that. He will, 
however, be better able to take full advantage of his 
opportunities if he can count on something more. 



APPENDIX C 

UNIVERSITY AND COLLEGE DISCIPLINE 

The amount of restraint exercised by the University 
over its undergraduate members "in statu pupillari" has 
decreased with changes in the habits of society. Even 
so there are many regulations which will seem strange to 
students from abroad.^ The chief rules now in force 
are the following: 

1. Undergraduates are required to abstain from frequenting 
hotels or taverns, without permission from the Proctors. 

2. They are not allowed to play billiards in any public room 
before i P.M. or after lo P.M.; nor to attend public race-meet- 
ings in the neighborhood of Oxford; nor to keep a motor-car or 
motor-cycle without a licence from the Junior Proctor. 

3. They are not allowed to give dances or to attend public 
subscription dances during term, or to attend private dances 
given in public rooms during term without the leave of the 
Proctors. 

Cap and gown must be worn by all undergraduate 
members of the University (i) when calling officially 
upon any University or College officer, (2) in Chapel, 
Hall, and at Lectures, as well as at University Sermons 
or other University assemblies. (In actual practice the 
cap is discarded except on such occasions as matricula- 
tion, examinations, and degree-days.) In addition they 
are required by statute to wear cap and gown "quoties 

1 See University Statutes, Title XV, De Moribus Conformandis. 



240 OXFORD OF TODAY 

in publicum prodeunt" but this rule has been narrowed 
by custom so that cap and gown must be worn only at 
University ceremonies, or at examinations, or in the 
Bodleian Library, and gown must be worn when out of 
College after 9 P. M. in Trinity term or after 8 P. M. 
in Michaelmas and Hilary terms. At University ex- 
aminations, matriculation, and when receiving degrees, 
undergraduates must wear white bow ties and dark coats. 

The cap required is the ordinary black mortarboard. 
The gown, for Scholars, is a full black gown reaching 
just below the knees, and with wide flowing sleeves; 
for the Commoners it is a black sleeveless garment 
about the length of a norfolk jacket, with a sort of sailor 
collar and a curious streamer hanging from each shoulder. 
A cap and gown more suited to the sex has been approved 
as official academical dress for the lady undergraduates. 

The punishments inflicted for breaches of University 
rules are: (i) pecuniary fines; (2) gating, i. e. confine- 
ment within the walls of the offender's College or Hall, 
or to his lodgings, after a certain hour; (3) rustication, 
i. e. banishment from the University for a definite period ; 
(4) expulsion from the University. 

Each College or Hall has rules and regulations of its 
own governing the conduct of its undergraduate mem- 
bers, but there are certain general rules common to all. 
Undergraduates are required to begin residence in each 
term on a certain day, to reside a prescribed length of 
time (about eight weeks) and not to leave Oxford either 
for the day or night without permission from the proper 
college authority. On the other hand, permission must 
be obtained to stay in Oxford during vacation. They 
are usually expected, but not compelled, to attend the 



DISCIPLINE 241 

college chapel ; but in many Colleges presence at roll-call 
(shortly before morning chapel) is accepted as an alter- 
native. Students who are not members of the Church of 
England are not expected to attend chapel, but must 
attend roll-call unless they make arrangements for the 
acceptance of attendance at their respective church 
services as an alternative. The gates of Colleges and 
Halls are closed at 9.10 P. M.; after that hour no under- 
graduate is allowed, without special permission, to leave 
his College or Hall, and at most Colleges a small fine 
(ranging from two pence to a shilling — according to the 
lateness of the hour) is imposed upon those who come 
in. Lodging-house keepers are required to close their 
doors at 10 P. M., and to report students who come in 
after that hour. No undergraduate is allowed to remain 
out of College or lodging after midnight without special 
permission from his College; violation of this rule is 
severely punished. 



APPENDIX D 

UNIVERSITY COURTS 

The University of Oxford has long enjoyed special 
jurisdiction where its resident members are concerned, 
through a series of Royal Charters, since confirmed by 
Acts of Parliament. In mediaeval days of town and gown 
jealousy and riots this jurisdiction was of great impor- 
tance. Today few undergraduates have occasion to 
make use of it and many probably do not know of its 
existence. 

This jurisdiction is or has been exercised by three 
courts : 

I. The Court of the Chancellor. 

This Court sits on Fridays during term, and when necessary 
out of term, in the Convocation House. It has exclusive and 
unlimited jurisdiction in all civil causes of action not relating to 
freehold. It administers the common law, and its procedure is 
under rules issued by the Vice-Chancellor with the approval of 
the Rule Committee of the Supreme Court. The ofhcers of the 
Court, under the Vice-Chancellor, are the "Assessor" or "Deputy", 
appointed by the Vice-Chancellor, who acts as judge ordinary, 
and must be a barrister of at least five years' standing and a 
member of Convocation; the Registrar, appointed by the Chan- 
cellor, who must be a solicitor and a member of Convocation; 
and a number of "proctors", who must also be solicitors. An 
appeal lies from this Court to a divisional court of the Supreme 
Court. The ecclesiastical and criminal jurisdiction of this Court 
is obsolete, and its probate jurisdiction has been taken away by 
Act of Parliament. 



UNIVERSITY COURTS 243 

2. The Court of the High Steward was created under Henry 
IV to deal with cases of felony and mayhem committed by 
Scholars. It does not seem to have sat for more than two cen- 
turies, and is unlikely to be called in the future. 

3. The Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor, and the "Deputy" are 
Justices of the Peace for Oxford, Oxfordshire, and Berkshire, in 
cases where Scholars are concerned. 



APPENDIX E 

THE AMERICAN UNIVERSITY UNION 

American professors and students coming to the British 
Isles for study or to enter British Universities are invited 
to register, without cost, upon their arrival at the 
office of the British Division of the American University 
Union in Europe, 50, Russell Square, London, W. C. i. 
The Union has established relations with the British 
Universities, Learned Societies and Libraries by which 
this office is able to give cards of introduction to suitable 
students as well as advice upon matters of interest to 
visiting scholars. Owing to the organization (so different 
from that of American Universities), of Oxford, Cam- 
bridge, London and other British Universities it is of 
advantage that applicants, whose arrangements are not 
otherwise made to enter these institutions, approach 
them through the office of the Union. Intending appli- 
cants should communicate with the office early in the 
year as these institutions have long waiting lists and 
as a rule college lists for entrance in the Autumn are 
closed in the Spring or at the latest in July, The 
office and the institutions have application blanks. 
These blanks may also be had from the American 
Oxonian. 

Incidentally, the office offers advice as to lodgings, 
may be used for a temporary postal address, and as a 
headquarters to learn the addresses of visiting scholars 
and a place to make appointments to meet them. The 
Women's Advisory Committee of prominent American 
and English ladies open possibilities of hospitality in 
English homes. 



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APPENDIX G 
EXAMINATIONS FOR THE B.A. DEGREE 

USUALLY BEFORE OR UPON COMING INTO RESIDENCE 
Elementary examina- 
tion in 
I. (a) Latin 
(b) Greek 
II. (a) English 

(b) French 

(c) German 
III. (a) Mathematics 

(b) Natural Science 

(c) Mathematics i- 
and Natural 
Science. 

Candidates must pass 
both subjects of I and 
the first two of III; or 
one from each Group and 
four in all, of which two 
must be languages other 
than English. 

Note. Candidates for the B.A. in Final Honour Schools Nos. i, 5, 6, 
7, 8, 9, and lo, who do not offer Greek in Responsions are required to 
offer Greek or Greek history or literature studied in texts with translation 
at their intermediate examination. 



I. Responsions 

(Compulsory, but 
Junior and Senior 
Students exempt.) 



Qualifies for all 
Intermediate 
Examinations. 



intermediate: first public EXAMINATION 

II. Holy Scripture, or substituted book (compulsory, except for Senior 
Students) 
III. One of the following (compulsory except for Senior Students): 

(I) Latin, Greek 
(II) English, Greek His- 
tory or Literature, 
French, German 
(III) Mathematics, Log- 
ic, Elements of Pol- ^ ._ . 
itical Economy > Qualifies for all 
Candidates must pass Finals, 
one subject from each 
group and four subjects 
in all; but may not offer 
more than one subject 
from Group III. 



I. Pass Moderations 



EXAMINATIONS FOR B.A. DEGREE 247 



2. Honour Moder- { Greek and Latin litera- "1 Qualifies for all 
alionsinGreekb- { ture, composition, f Finals 
Latin Literature [ philology. Logic, etc. J 



Honour Moder- 
ations in Mathe- 
matics 



Jurisprudence 
Preliminary 



S. Science Prelimi- 
nary 



History Prelimi- 
nary 



(Pure Mathematics (Al- 
gebra, Geometry, Trig- 
onometry, Calculus) 
Mechanics 

English Constitutional 
History, 

Institutes of Justinian 

Barth^lemy's Le Gouver- 
nement de la France 

Latin and French unpre- 
pared translation 

Mathematics 

Mechanics and Physics 

Chemistry 

Biology (Zoology and 
Botany) 

Physics and Chemistry 
(Candidate must pass 
any two of the above) 

History 

Greek or Latin and one 

modern language 
Elements of Economics 



Qualifies for 
Finals 



all 



Agriculture and 
Forestry Pre- 
liminary 

Certain specified 
groups of the Fi- 
nal Pass School 



Qualifies for all 
Finals. 



Qualifies for all 
Finals. 



Qualifies for all 

Finals. 



(Elements of natural sci- "1 
ences related to Agri- rQualifies for 
culture and Forestry; | Finals, 
one modern language J 



all 



A (i) Greek and Latin;) 

or I Qualifies for all 

B (2) and B (5) French ( Finals. 

and German I 



FINAL: SECOND PUBLIC EXAMINATION 



IV. Either. 

A. One of the following Honour Schools 

1. Liter ae Humaniores 

2. Mathematics 

3. Natural Science: 

■ a. Astronomy 

b. Physics 

c. Chemistry 

d. Animal Physiology 

e. Zoology 
/. Botany 
g. Geology 



248 OXFORD OF TODAY 

h. Engineering Science 

Supplementary Subjects: 
Crystallography 
Mineralogy 
Anthropology 

4. Jurisprudence 

5. Modern History 

6. Theology 

7. Oriental Studies 

8. English Language and Literature 

9. Modern Languages: 

a. French 

b. German 

c. Italian 

d. Spanish 

e. Russian 

/. Mediaeval and Modern Greek 
10. Philosophy, Politics and Economics 
or 

B. Pass School: subjects selected from following: 

Groups A (ancient languages) 

B (modern subjects, including French and German) 
C Mathematics and Science 
D Theological Subjects 
E Military History. 
or 

C. Agriculture and Forestry 



APPENDIX H 

LIST OF PROFESSORS, READERS, LECTURERS, 

AND TUTORS 

MEMBERS OF THE SEVERAL FACULl'IES 



1921-1922 



1. Theology 



Allen, Rev. G. B., B.D.. M.A., Principal 

of St. Edmund Hall. 
Bartlet, Rev. J. V., M. A.. Exeter 
Bate, Rev. H. N., M.A., Magdalen, 

Speaker's Lecturer in Biblical Studies 
Brightman, Rev. F. E., M.A., Magdalen 
Brook, Rev. V. J. K., M.A., Lincoln 
Burney, Rev. C. F.. M.A., D.Litt., 

Oriel, Oriel Professor of the Inter- 
pretation of Holy Scripture 
Burroughs, Rev. E. A., D.D.. Trinity 
Campbell, Rev. J. McL., M.A., Hert- 
ford 
Carpenter, Rev. J. E., M.A., D.Litt., 

Corpus Christi 
CoUingwood, R. G., M.A., Pembroke 
Cooke, Rev. G. A., D.D., Christ 

Church, Regius Professor of Hebrew 
Davies, Rev. A. LI., M.A., Jesus, 

Grinfield Lecturer on the Septuagint. 
Dodd, C. H., M.A., University 
Emmet, Rev. C. W., B.D., M.A., 

University 
Gibbon, Rev. H. H.. M.A., Balliol 
Graham, Rev. E,, M.A., Oriel 
Gray, Rev. G. B., M.A., D.Litt., 

Non-Collegiate 
Green, Rev. F. W., M.A., Merton 
Griffith, F. LI., M.A., Queen's 
Headlam, Rev. A. C, D.D.. Christ 

Church, Regius Professor of Divinity 
Hodgson, Rev. L., M.A., Magdalen 
Jacks, L. P., M.A., Exeter 
Kidd, Rev. B. J., D.D., Warden of 

Keble 
Kirk, Rev. K. E., M.A., Magdalen 
Knapp, Rev. C, D.D., Merton 
Lightfoot, Rev. R. H., M.A., New 

College 
Lock, Rev. W., D.D., Christ Church, 

Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity 
Loewe, H. M. J., M.A., Exeter 
Lowe, E. A., M.A., Corpus Christi, 

Lecturer in Palaeography 



Major, Rev. H. D. A., B.D., M.A., 

Exeter 
Marett, R. R., M.A., D.Sc, Exeter 
Micklem, N., M.A., New College 
Narborough, Rev. F. D. V., M.A., 

Worcester 
Ottley, Rev. R.L.,D.D., Christ Church. 

Regius Professor of Pastoral Theology 
Pullan, Rev. L., D.D.. St. John's 
Rawlinson, Rev. A. E. J., B.D., M.A., 

Christ Church 
Selbie, Rev. W. B., D.D.. Brasenose, 

Wilde Lecturer in Natural and 

Comparative Religion 
Simpson, Rev. D. C. B.D., M.A., 

Wadham 
Spencer, Rev. F. A. M., M.A., Brase- 
nose 
Stenning, J. F., M.A., Wadham 
Stone, Rev. Darwell, D.D., Merton 
Streeter, Rev. B. H., M.A., Queen's 
Turner, C. H., M.A., Magdalen, Dean 

Ireland's Professor of Exegesis 
Watson. Rev. E. W.. D.D., Christ 

Church, Regius Professor of Ecclesi- 
astical History 
Webb, C. C. J., M.A., Magdalen, Oriel 

Professor of the Philosophy of the 

Christian Religion 
Williams. Rev. N. P., B.D.. M.A.. 

Exeter 
Woodward. E. LI.. M.A., All Souls 

2. Law 

Allen. C. K.. M.A., University 
Archibald. J. G.. M.A.. All Souls, 

Lecturer in Private International Law 
Carter, A. T.. D.C.L.. Christ Church 
Cheshire, G. C, B.C.L.. M.A.. Exeter 
de Zulueta. F.. D.C.L.. All Souls, 

Regius Professor of Civil Law 
Hazel, A. E. W.. B.C.L.. M.A.. Jesus. 

Lecturer in Criminal Law and the 

Law of Evidence 
Hilliard, E., B.C.L., M.A., Balliol 



250 



OXFORD OF TODAY 



Holdsworth, W. S., D.C.L.. St. John's, 

All Souls Reader in English Law 
Landon, P. A., M.A., Trinity 
Lee, R. W., D.C.L., All Souls, Professor 

of Roman-Dutch Law 
Miles, Sir J. C, B.C.L., M.A., Merton 
Radclifife, G. R. Y., M.A., New College 
Stallybrass, W. T. S., M.A., Brasenose 
Trevelyan, Sir E. J., D.C.L., All 

Souls, Reader in Indian Law 
Vinogradoff, Sir P., M.A., Hon. D.C.L., 
Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi Pro- 
fessor of Jurisorudence 
Williams, L, B.C.L., M.A., Society 
of Oxford Home-Students 

3. Medicine 

Adams, P. E. H., B.M., M.A., Exeter, 

Reader in Ophthalmology 
Bevers, E. C, B.M., M.A., St. John's, 

Litchfield Lecturer in Surgery 
Blackwood, B. M., M.A., Somerville 

College 
Chapman, D. L., M.A., Jesus 
Collier, W., M.A., Exeter, Litchfield 

Lecturer in Medicine 
ColUer, W. T., B.M., M.A., Balliol 
Dixey, F. A., D.M., Wadham 
Dodds-Parker, A.P., B.M., M.A., Mag- 
dalen, Lecturer in Applied Anatomy 
Douglas, C. G., B.Sc, D.M., St. John's 
Dreyer, G., M.A., Lincoln, Professor of 

Pathology 
Gardner, A. D., D.M., University 
Garrod. Sir A. E., D.M., Christ Church, 

Regius Professor of Medicine 
George, H. G., M.A., Jesus 
Gibson, A. G., D.M.. Christ Church, 

Lecturer in Morbid Anatomy 
Gunn, J. A., M.A., Queen's, Professor 

of Pharmacology 
Heathcote, R. St. A., B.Sc, D.M., 

New College 
Heaton, T. B., D.M., Christ Church 
Liddell, E. G. T., B.M., M.A., Trinity 
Mallam, E., D.M., Magdalen 
Marsh, J. E.. M.A., Merton 
Priestley, J. G., D.M., Christ Church 
Shernngton, Sir C. S., M.A., Magdalen 

Waynfiete Professor of Physiology 
Thomson, A., M.A., Christ Church, Dr. 

Lee's Professor of Anatomy 
Walker, E. W. A., D.Sc, D.M., Uni- 
versity, Lecturer in Pathology 
Waters, W. A. P., D.M., Brasenose 
Whitelocke, H. A. B., B.M., M.A. 

Christ Church 
Whitley, E., M.A., Trinity 

4. Literae Humaniores 

Adams, W. G. S., All Souls, Gladstone 
Professor of Political Theory and 
Institutions 



Allen, T. W., M.A.. Queen's 
Anderson, J. G. C, M.A., Christ 
Church, Lecturer in Roman Epig- 
raphy 
Bailey. C, M.A., Balliol 
Barber, E. A., M.A., Exeter 
Barrington-Ward, J. G., M.A., Christ 

Church 
Beazley, J. D., M.A., Christ Church. 

Lecturer on Greek Vases 
Bell, J., M.A., Queen's 
Benecke, P. V. M., M.A., Magdalen 
Blunt, H. W., M.A., Christ Church 
Brabant, F. H., M.A., Magdalen 
Brewis, G. R., M.A., Hertford 
Cariyle, Rev. A. J., M.A., D.Litt., 

University 
Carritt, E. F., M.A., University 
Casson, S., M.A., New College 
Clark, A. C, M.A.. Corpus Christi. 

Corpus Christi Professor of Latin 
Collingwood, R. G., M.A., Pembroke 
Dawkins, R. M., M.A., Exeter, Bywater 
and Sotheby Professor of Byzantine 
and Modern Greek 
Denniston, J. D.. M.A., Hertford 
Dodd. P. W., M.A.. Jesus 
Drake, H. L., M.A., Pembroke 
Driver, G. R., M.A., Magdalen 
Dundas, R. H., M.A., Christ Churr-h 
Evans, Sir A. J., M.A., D.Litt., Brase- 
nose, Professor of Prehistoric Archae- 
ology 
Farnell, L. R., M.A.. D. Litt., Rector 

of Exeter 
Farquharson, A. S. L., M.A., University 
Fotheringham, J. K., M.A., D.Litt., 

Magdalen 
Gardner. P.. M.A., D.Litt., Lincoln, 
Lincoln and Merton Professor of 
Classical Archaeology and Art 
Garrod, H. W., M.A.. Merton 
Genner, E. E., M.A., Jesus 
Godley, A.D., M.A., Hon. D.Litt., 

Madgalen, Public Orator 
Grenfell, B. P.. M.A., D.Litt., Queen's, 

Professor of Papyrology 
Griffith, F. LI., M.A.. Queen's, Reader 

in Egyptology 
Grundy, G. B., M.A.. D.Litt.. Corpus 

Christi 
Hall, F. W., M.A., St. John's 
Hardy, E. G., M.A., D.Litt., Principal 

of Jesus 
Henderson, B. W., M.A., D.Litt.. 

Exeter 
Henderson, H. L., M.A., New College 
Higham, T. F., M.A., Trinity 
Holroyd. M., M.A.. Brasenose 
How, W. W., M.A., Merton 
Hunt, A. S., M.A., D.Litt.. Queen's, 

Professor of Papyrology 
Jacks. M. L.. M.A., Wadham 
Jenkinson, A. J., M.A.. Brasenose 



LIST OF THE SEVERAL FACULTIES 251 



Joachim, H. H., M.A., New College, 

Wykeham Professor of Logic 
Jones, H. Stuart, M.A., D.Litt.. 

Brasenose, Camden Professor of 

Ancient History 
Joseph, H. W. B., M.A., New College 
Kendrew. W. G., M.A., Non-Collegiate 
Last, H. M., M.A.. St. John's 
Lindsay, A. D., M.A., Balliol 
Livingstone, R. W., M.A., Corpus 

Christi 
Lorimer, H. L., M.A., Somerville 

College 
Lowe, E. A., M.A., Corpus Christi, 

Lecturer in Palaeography 
McCann, Rev. P. J., M.A., St. Benet's 

Hall 
McCutcheon, K. S. H., M.A.. Lady 

Margaret Hall 
Macgregor, D. C, M.A., Balliol 
Marchant, E. C, M.A., Lincoln 
Marett, R. R., M.A., D.Sc. Exeter 
Martindale, Rev. C. C, M.A., Campion 

Hall 
Matheson, P. E., M.A., New College 
Munro, J. A. R., M.A., Rector of 

Lincoln 
Murphy, N. R., M.A., Hertford 
Murray, Gilbert, M.A., D.Litt., Christ 

Church, Regius Professor of Greek 
Myres, J. L., M. A., New College, 

Wykeham Professor of Ancient 

History 
Owen, A. S., M.A., Keble 
Owen. S. G., M.A., Christ Church 
Parker. H. M. D., M.A. Hertford 
Paton, H. J., M.A., Queen's 
Phelps, W., M.A., Corpus Christi 
Pickard-Cambridge, A. W., M.A., 

Balliol 
Pickard-Cambridge, W. A., M.A., 

Worcester 
Poole, D. J. L.. M.A., Society of 

O.xford Home-Students 
Powell, J. U., M.A., St. John's 
Poynton, A. B., M.A., University 
Prichard, H. A., M.A., Trinity 
Reade, W. H. V., M.A., Keble 
Richards, Rev. G. C, B.D.. M.A., Oriel 
Rogers, A. M. A. H., M.A., Society 

of Oxford Home-Students 
Ross, W. D., M.A., Oriel 
Schiller, F. C. S., M.A., D.Sc., Corpus 

Christi 
Selbie. Rev. W. B., D.D., Brasenose 
Seymour, P. A., M.A., Jesus 
Smith. A. H., M.A., New College 
Smith, J. A., M.A., Magdalen, Wayn- 

flete Professor of Moral and Meta- 
physical Philosophy 
Stevenson, G. H., M.A., University 
Stewart, J. A., M.A., Corpus Christi, 

White's Professor of Moral Phi- 
losophy 



Stocks, J. L., M.A., St. John's 

Taylor, M. V., M.A., Somerville 

College 
Tod, M. N., M.A., Oriel, Lecturer in 

Greek Epigraphy 
Upcott, E. A., M.A., Balliol 
Vinogradoff, Sir P., M.A., Hon. D.C.L., 

Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi Pro- 
fessor of Jurisprudence 
Wace, Rev. H. C, M.A., Brasenose 
Wade-Gery, H. T., M.A., Wadham 
Walker, Rev. E. M., M.A., Queen's 
Webb, C. C. J., M.A., Magdalen, Oriel 

Professor of the Philosophy of the 

Christian Religion 
Wells, J., M.A., Warden of Wadham 
Whatley, N., M.A., Hertford 
Wright, J., M.A., Exeter, Corpus 

Christi Professor of Comparative 

Philology 

5. Modern History 

Adams, W. G. S., M.A., All Souls, Glad- 
stone Professor of Political Theory 
and Institutions 

Ady, C. M.. M.A., St. Hugh's College 

Armstrong, E., M.A., Pro-Provost of 
Queen's 

Atkinson, C. T., M.A., Exeter 

Baker, J. B., M.A., Censor of Non- 
Collegiate Students 

Beckit, H. O., M.A., Balliol, Reader 
of Geography 

Bell, K. N., M.A.. Balliol 

Bruce, Hon. A. M., M.A., Somerville 
College 

Burrows, C. M. E., M.A., Principal of 
the Society of Oxford Home-Students 

Butler, C. V., M.A., Society of Oxford 
Home-Students 

Butler, R. F., M.A., Society of 0.\ford 
Home-Students 

Cariyle. Rev. A. J., M.A., D.Litt., Uni- 
versity 

Cariyle, E. L, M.A., Lincoln 

Clark, A. C, M.A., Corpus Christi, 
Corpus Christi Professor of Latin 

Clark, G. N., M.A., Oriel 

Clarke, M. V., M.A., Somerville College 

Coate, M., M.A., St. Hilda's Hall 

Costin, W. C, M.A., St. John's 

Coupland, R., M.A., All Souls, Beit 
Professor of Colonial History 

Cruttwell, C. R. M. F.. M.A., Hertford 

Davies, G., M.A., Pembroke 

Dibbee, G. B., M.A., All Souls 

Edgeworth, F. Y., M.A.. All Souls, 
Professor Emeritus 

Edwards, J. G., M.A., Jesus 

Egerton, H. E., M.A., All Souls 

Elton, G., M.A., Queen's 

Emden. A. B.. M.A., St. Edmund Hall 

Feiling, K. G., M.A., Christ Church 



252 



OXFORD OF TODAY 



Firth, C. H., M.A., Oriel, Regius Pro- 
fessor of Modern History 
Foligno, C, M.A., Queen's, Serena Pro- 
fessor of Italian Studies 
Gretton, R. H., M.A., Magdalen 
Grier, L., M.A., Principal of Lady 

Margaret Hall 
Hassa'.l, A., M.A., Christ Church 
Hodgkin, R. H., M.A., Queen's 
Jamison, E. M., M.A., Lady Margaret 

Hall 
Jeffery, R. W., M.A., Brasenose 
Johnson, Rev. A. H., M.A., All Souls 
JoUiffe, J. E. A., M.A., Keble 
Jones, H. Stuart, M.A., D.Litt., 
Brasenose, Camden Professor of 
Ancient History 
Lee, S. G., M.A., Magdalen 
Lees, B. A., M.A., Lady Margaret Hall 
Lennard, R. V., M.A., Wadham 
Levett. A. E., M.A., St. Hilda's Hall 
Leys, K. K. M., M.A., University 
Leys, M. D. R., M.A., Somerville 

College 
Lindsay, A. D., M.A., Balliol 
Lipson, E., M.A., New College 
Lodge, Sir Richard, M.A., Brasenose, 
Ford's Lecturer in English History 
Lovett, Sir H. Verney, M.A., Balliol, 

Reader in Indian History 
Lowe, E. A., M.A.. Corpus Christi, 

Lecturer in Palaeography 
Marriott, J. A. R., M.A., Worcester 
Masterman, J. C, M.A., Christ Church 
MacMunn, N. E., M.A., Society of 

Oxford Home-Students 
Montague, F. C, M.A., Oriel 
Mowat, R. B., M.A., Corpus Christi 
Myres, J. L., M.A., New College, Wyke- 

ham Professor of Ancient History 
Ogg, D., M.A., New College 
Ogilvie, F. W., M.A., Trinity 
Oman. Sir C. W. C, M.A., All Souls, 
Chichele Professor of Modern History 
Patterson, Rev. M. W., M.A., Trinity 
Penson, Sir T. H., M.A., Worcester 
Poole, A. L., M.A., St. John's 
Poole, R. L., M.A., Magdalen, Lecturer 

in Diplomatic 
Rice-Oxley, L., M.A., Keble 
Richards, Rev. G. C, B.D., M.A., Oriel 
Roberts, P. E., M.A., Worcester 
Ross, W. D., M.A., Oriel 
Smith, A. L., M.A., Master of Balliol 
Stampa, L., M.A., Magdalen 
Stevenson, G. H., M.A., University 
Stone, C. G., M.A., Balliol 
Sumner, B. H., M.A., All Souls 
Taylor, M. V., M.A., Somerville 

College 
Thompson, Rev. J. M., M.A., Magda- 
len 
Urquhart, F. F., M.A., Balliol 



Vinogradoff, Sir P.. M.A., Hon. D.C.L., 
Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi Pro- 
fessor of Jurisprudence 
Wakeling, G. H., M.A., Brasenose 
Watson, Rev. E. W., D.D., Christ 
Church, Regius Professor of Ecclesi- 
astical History 
Weaver, J. R. H., M.A., Trinity 
Wells, J., M.A., Warden of Wadham 
Wickham Legg, L. G., M.A., New Col- 
lege 
Wilkinson, H. S., M.A., All Souls, 
Chichele Professor of Military His- 
tory 
Woodward, E. LI., M.A., All Souls 
Wrong, E. M., M.A., Magdalen, Beit 
Lecturer in Colonial History 

6. Mediaeval and Modern 
Languages 

Berthon, H. E., M.A., Wadham, Tay- 
lorian Lecturer in French 

Brett-Smith, H. F. B., M.A., Corpus 
Christi 

Bruce, Hon. A. M., M.A., Somerville 
College 

Carlyle, Rev. A. J., M.A., D.Litt., 
University 

Collingwood, R. G., M.A., Pembroke 

Craigie, W. A., M.A., Oriel, Rawlinson 
and Bosworth Professor of Anglo- 
Saxon 

Darbishire, H., M.A., Somerville 
College 

Dawkins, R. M., M.A., Exeter, Bywater 
and Sotheby Professor of Byzantine 
and Modern Greek 

de Arteaga, F., M.A., Worcester, Pro- 
fessor of and Taylorian Lecturer in 
Spanish 

Del Re, A., Taylorian Lecturer in 
French 

Deneke, H. C, M.A., Lady Margaret 
Hall 

Ewert, A., M.A., St. John's, Taylorian 
Lecturer in French 

Farnell, V., M.A., Somerville College 

Farquharson, A. S. L., M.A., Univer- 
sity 

Fiedler, H. G., M.A., Queen's, Tay- 
lorian Professor of the German 
Language and Literature 

Foligno, C, M.A., Queen's, Serena 
Professor of Italian Studies 

Forbes, N., M.A., Balliol, Professor of 
and Reader in Russian 

Eraser, J., M.A., Jesus, Jesus Professor 
of Celtic 

Garabedian, D., M.A., Non-Collegiate 

Henderson, B. W., M.A., D.Litt., 
Exeter, 

Jacks. M.L., M.A., Wadham ■ . 



LIST OF THE SEVERAL FACULTIES 253 



Jourdain, E. F., M.A., Principal of 
St. Hugh's College, Taylorian Lec- 
turer in French 

Kemshead. C. T. T., M.A., Magdalen 

Ker, W. P., M.A.. AH Souls, Professor 
of Poetry 

Kolkhorst, G. A., B.A., Exeter, Tay- 
lorian Lecturer in Spanish 

Lee, M. L., M.A., Society of Oxford 
Home-Students 

Lees, B. A., M.A., Lady Margaret Hall 

McKenzie, R., M.A., St. John's 

Montgomery, M., B.Litt., M.A., Lin- 
coln, Taylorian Lecturer in German 

Nichol Smith, D., M.A., Worcester, 
Goldsmiths' Reader in English 

Onions, C. T., M.A., Oriel, Lecturer 
in English 

Pope, M. K., M.A., Somerville College, 
Taylorian Lecturer in French 

Raleigh, Sir W. A., M.A.. Merton, 
Merton ProfessorofEnglishLiterature 

Ridley. Rev. M. R., M.A.. Balliol 

Rooke, E. W., M.A., St. Hilda's Hall 

Rudler, G., M.A., Worcester, Marshal 
Foch Professor of French Literature 

Shaw, M. R. B., M.A., St. Hugh's 
College 

Simpson, P., M.A., Oriel, Lecturer in 
English 

Skipworth, M. G., M.A., Lady 
Margaret Hall 

Spens, J., M.A., Lady Margaret Hall 

Studer, P., M.A., Exeter, Taylorian 
Professor of the Romance Languages 

Taylor, D. O., M.A., Society of Oxford 
Home-Stude nts 

Walker, Rev. E. M., M.A., Queen's 

Wardale, E. E., M.A., St. Hugh's 
College 

Waters, E. G. R., M.A., Keble. Tay- 
lorian Lecturer in French 

Wilkinson, C. H., M.A., Worcester 

Wright, J., M.A., Exeter, Corpus 
Christi Professor of Comparative 
Philology 

Wyld, H. C. K., B.Litt.. M.A.. Merton, 
Merton Professor of English Lan- 
guage and Literature 

7. Oriental Languages 

Burney, Rev. C. P., M.A., D.Litt., 
Oriel, Oriel Professor of the Interpre- 
tation of Holy Scripture 

Cooke, Rev. G. A.. D.D., Christ 
Church, Regius Professor of Hebrew 

Dewhurst, R. P., M.A., Balliol, Lec- 
turer in Hindustani 

Gray, Rev. G. B., M.A., D.Litt., Non- 
Collegiate 

Griffith, F. LI., M.A., Queen's, Reader 
in Egyptology 



Keith Jopp, C. H., M.A., New College, 
Lecturer in Marathi 

Langdon, S., M.A., Jesus, Professor of 
Assyriology 

Levy, R., M.A., Jesus, Lecturer in 
Persian 

Loewe, H. M. J., M.A., Exeter 

Lovett, Sir H. Verney, M.A., Balliol, 
Reader in Indian History 

Macdonell, A. A., M.A., Balliol, Boden 
Professor of Sanskrit 

Margoliouth, Rev. D. S., M.A., D.Litt., 
New College, Laudian Professor of 
Arabic 

Morison, J., M.A., Balliol, Lecturer 
in Sanskrit 

Simpson, Rev. D. C, M.A., B.D., 
Wadham 

Soothill, W. E., M.A.,'. Trinity, Profes- 
sor of Chinese 

Stenning, J. F., M.A., Wadham, Lec- 
turer in Aramaic 

Walsh E. H. C, M.A., Exeter, Lecturer 
in Bengah 

8. Natural Science 

Amery, G. D., M.A., Brasenose 
Applebey, M. P., B.Sc, M.A,, St. John's 
Bailey, V. A., M.A., Queen's 
Balfour, H., M.A., Trinity, Curator of 

the Pitt-Rivers Museum 
Barker, T. V., B.Sc., M.A., Brasenose, 
Lecturer in Chemical Crystallog- 
raphy 
Bell. H. C, M.A., Jesus 
Berrisford, Rev. E. A., M.A., Queen's 
Biggs, H. F., M.A., Trinity 
Blackwood, B. M., M.A., Somerville 

College 
Bosanquet, C. H., M.A., Balliol 
Bowman, H. L., M.A., D.Sc, Mag- 
dalen, Waynfiete Professor of Miner- 
alogy 
Brose, H. H. L. A., M.A., Christ Chruch 
Button, G. T., M.A., New College 
Buxton, L. H. D., M.A., Exeter, 
Lecturer in Physical Anthropology 
Campbell, J. E.. M.A., Hertford 
Carr-Saunders, A. M., M.A., Magdalen 
Chapman, D. L., M.A., Jesus 
Chattaway, F. D., M.A., Queen's 
Chaundy, T. W., M.A., Christ Church 
Church, A. H., M.A., Jesus, Lecturer in 

Botany 
Dixey, F. A., D.M., Wadham 
Dixon, A. L., M.A., Magdalen, Wayn- 
fiete Professor of Pure Mathematics 
Dodds-Parker, A. P., B.M., M.A., 
Magdalen, Lecturer in Applied 
Anatomy 
Douglas, C. G., B.Sc., D.M., St. John's 
Douglas, J. A., B.Sc, M.A., Keble 
Doyne, H. C, M.A., Trinity 



254 



OXFORD OF TODAY 



Dreyer, G., M.A., Lincoln, Professor of 

Pathology 
Elliott, E. B., M.A., Magdalen, Pro- 
fessor Emeritus 
Ellis, J. C. B., M.A., Jesus 
Fotheringham, J. K., M.A., D.Litt., 

Magdalen 
Garrod, Sir A. E., D.M., Christ Church, 

Regius Professor of Medicine 
George, H. J., M.A., Jesus 
Gill, E. W. B., B.Sc, M.A., Merton 
Goodrich, E. S., M.A., Merton, Linacre 
Professor of Zoology and Compara- 
tive Anatomy 
Griffith, I. O., M.A., Brasenose 
Haldane, J. B. S., M.A., New College 
Hammick, D. LI., M.A., Oriel 
Hardy, G. H., M.A., New College, 

Savilian Professor of Geometry 
Hartley, E. G. J., M.A., Christ Church 
Hartley, H. B., M.A., Balliol 
Hart-Synnot, R. V. O., M.A.. St. John's 
Haselfoot, C. E., M.A., Hertford 
Heathcote, R. St. A., B.Sc, D. M., 

New College 
Heaton, T. B., B.M., M.A., Christ 

Church 
Hiley, W. E., M.A., Queen's 
Hilliard, E., B.C.L., M.A., Balliol 
Hodgkinson, J., M.A., Merton 
Hope, E., M.A., Magdalen 
Huxley, J. S., M.A., New College 
Jenkin, C. F., M.A., Brasenose, Pro- 
fessor of Engineering Science 
Keeble, F. W., M.A., Magdalen, 

Sherardian Professor of Botany 
Kirkaldy, J. W. , M. A., Somerville College 
Lambert, B., M.A., Merton, Aldrichian 

Demonstrator in Chemistry 
Lattey, R. T., B.Sc. M.A., Trinity 
Lennard, R. V., M.A., Wadham 
Liddell, E. G. T., B.M., M.A., Trinity 
Lindemann, F. A., M.A., Wadham, 
Professor of Experimental Philosophy 
Love, A. E. H., M.A., D.Sc, Queen's, 
Sedleian Professor of Natural Phi- 
losophy 
Manley, J. J., M.A., Magdalen 
Marett, R. R., M.A., D.Sc, Exeter, 

Reader in Social Anthropology 
Marsh, J. E., M.A., Merton 
Merton, T. R., M.A.. D.Sc, Balliol, 
Professor of Spectroscopy 



Morison, C. G. T., M.A., Balliol, Lec- 
turer in Agricultural Chemistry 

Morrell, J. H., M.A., Magdalen 

Orwin, C. S., M.A., Balliol 

Redder, A. L., M.A., Magdalen 

Perkin, W. H., M.A., Magdalen, Wayn- 
flete Professor of Chemistry 

Pidduck, F. B., M.A., Queen's, Lec- 
turer in Applied Mathematics 

Poole, E. G. C, M.A., D.Phil., New 
College 

Poulton, E. B.. M.A., D.Sc. Jesus, 
Hope Professor of Zoology 

Priestley, J. G., D.M., Christ Church 

Raikes, H. R., M.A., Exeter 

Rogers, L. J., M.A., Balliol 

Russell, A. S., M.A., Christ Church 

Russell, J. W., M.A., Merton 

Sampson, C. H.. M.A., Principal of 
Brasenose 

Selbie, Rev. W. B., D.D., Brasenose, 
Wilde Lecturer in Natural and Com- 
parative Religion 

Sherrington, Sir C. S., M.A., Magdalen, 
Waynflete Professor of Physiology 

Sidgwick, N. V., M.A., Lincoln 

Singer, C. J., D.Litt., D.M., Magdalen, 
Lecturer in the History of the 
Biological Sciences 

Soddy, F., M.A., Christ Church, Dr. 
Lee's Professor of Chemistry 

Sollas, W. J., M.A., University, Pro- 
fessor of Geology 

Somerville, W., M.A., D.Sc, St. John's 
Sibthorpian Professor of Rural 
Economy 

Spokes, P. S., M.A., Queen's 

Stocker, W. N., M.A., Brasenose 

Taylor, T. W. J., M.A.. Brasenose 

Thompson, C. H.. M.A.. Queen's 

Thomson, A.. M.A.. Christ Church, Dr. 
Lee's Professor of Anatomy 

Townsend, J. S. E., M.A., New College, 
Wykeham Professor of Physics 

Troup. R. S.. M.A., St. John's. Profes- 
sor of Forestry 

Turner, H. H., M.A., D.Sc, New Col- 
lege, Savilian Professor of Astronomy 

Walden, A. F., M.A., New College 

Walker, E. W. A., D.Sc, D.M., Uni- 
versity 

Whitley, E., M.A., Trinity 

Wood, G. R., M.A., Merton 



APPENDIX I 
COLLEGE FELLOWS AND FELLOWSHIPS 

As explained in Chapter II, each College at Oxford 
(except Keble College) is governed by a Head and 
Fellows. The latter may be classified according to the 
kinds of Fellowships which are found in most of the 
Colleges, as follows: 

1. Official Fellows: These are the holders of Official 
Fellowships, devoted ordinarily to the active educational 
staff in each College, but also tenable in many cases by 
bursars, chaplains, and other College officers. The yearly 
emolument is from £200 to £300, besides rooms rent 
free and in most cases an allowance for dinner in the 
College hall. In addition, an Official Fellow receives a 
further stipend, payable mainly out of the Tuition Fund. 
The length of tenure varies from two years to fifteen; 
but the holder may be re-appointed. An Official Fellow 
;n most cases vacates his Fellowship by marriage, if 
occurring within seven years from the date of his elec- 
tion: but he Is as a rule eligible for re-election to the 
vacancy so created, provided that there be resident 
within the College the required number of Fellows, 
varying in each case. 

2. Clerical Fellows: In the majority of Colleges there 
must be at least one Clerical Fellow, for the religious 
instruction of undergraduates and due performance of 
Divine Service of the Church of England. At Christ 



256 OXFORD OF TODAY 

Church and Magdalen, there must be two such Fellows. 
At All Souls, Corpus Christi, Merton, New, and Wad- 
ham Colleges, the statutes do not require Clerical Fellows 
but provide that one of the Fellows may hold the office 
of Divinity Lecturer or Chaplain. The conditions of 
tenure of Clerical Fellowships are usually similar to those 
of Official Fellowships. 

3. ''Prize" Fellows: "Prize" Fellowships (often called 
Non-Official or Ordinary Fellowships) are rewards for 
proficiency in various subjects, are given after examina- 
tion, and do not ordinarily carry any obligation to serve 
the College in any capacity (except in some cases for a 
short period, generally a year). The yearly emolument 
is £200, besides rooms rent free and an allowance for 
dinner in hall. The tenure is seven years. The candidate 
must have passed all examinations for the B.A. degree, 
and must be unmarried, and also must not possess more 
than a certain specified income (generally £500 per year) 
from other sources. Prize Fellows remain Probationer 
Fellows for one year; until the expiration of that time, 
or a longer period in some cases, they are not entitled 
to take any part in the government of their Colleges. 
Financial reasons have limited the number of these Fel- 
lowships. 

4. Research Fellows: Some Colleges may elect to 
Research Fellowships without examination persons 
distinguished in science or letters. Such a Fellowship is 
tenable on condition of the Fellow prosecuting some 
definite scientific or literary work. 

5. Professorial Fellows: College Fellowships are now 
attached to many University Professorships. Colleges 
also may increase the emoluments of other University 



COLLEGE FELLOWS AND FELLOWSHIPS 257 

Professors, Readers or Officers, by electing them to 
Fellowships. 

6. Honorary Fellows: Most Colleges have powers to 
elect distinguished persons to Honorary Fellowships. 
An Honorary Fellow is not entitled to vote in meetings 
of the Fellows nor to receive any pecuniary emoluments: 
but he may be entitled to enjoy other privileges. 

In each College, elections to vacant or to new Fellow- 
ships are by the vote of the then existing Fellows entitled 
to vote. The number of Fellows in each College is fixed 
by its statutes, and is not uniform among the Colleges. 
The number of persons (excluding Honorary Fellows) 
actually holding Fellowships, Lectureships or Tutor- 
ships in the several Colleges at the end of the academic 
year 1920-192 1 appears in the table, appendix F; the 
precise number of Fellows in each case being determi- 
nable by reference to the current edition of the Oxford 
University Calendar. 

Most of the actual teaching in Oxford is done by the 
Official and Clerical Fellows of the several Colleges, 
through the system of private tuition and lectures 
described in Chapter HI. The rest is done by the Uni- 
versity professors, lecturers, readers, etc., who are also 
usually holders of College Fellowships. It is therefore 
true to say that practically every member of the several 
faculties listed in Appendix H, is a Fellow of some College 
in the University. 



APPENDIX J 

REGULATIONS GOVERNING AMERICAN 
RHODES SCHOLARSHIPS 

The regulations governing the American Rhodes 
Scholarships are revised from year to year and printed in 
the annual Memorandum of the Rhodes Trust together 
with an application blank for the use of candidates. The 
main provisions remain essentially the same from year to 
year, but there are annual changes in detail. Intending 
candidates should be careful to get the latest copy of the 
Memorandum in order to make sure of fulfilling all thet 
requirements. The important parts of the regulations as 
printed in the Memorandum for 1922 are as follows: 

The stipend of a Rhodes Scholarship is normally £300 
a year, but until further notice Scholars will receive a 
bonus of £50 in addition, making a total of £350 per 
annum. A Scholarship is tenable for three years, subject 
to the continued approval of the College at Oxford of 
which the Scholar is a member. Two Scholarships are 
assigned to each State. Since the Scholarship is tenable 
for three years, there will be one year out of every three 
in each state in which there will be no election. In each 
of the other two years one Scholarship will be filled up if 
a suitable candidate offers. For the purpose of arranging 
the rotation of Scholarships the states of the Union have 
been divided into three groups as follows: 



AMERICAN RHODES SCHOLARSHIPS 259 



A 


B 


C 


Connecticut 


Alabama 


Arizona 


Illinois 


Arkansas 


Delaware 


Indiana 


California 


Florida 


Kentucky 


Colorado 


Idaho 


Maine 


Georgia 


Louisiana 


Maryland 


Iowa 


Montana 


Massachusetts 


Kansas 


Nevada 


New Hampshire 


Michigan 


New Mexico 


New Jersey 


Minnesota 


North Carolina 


New York 


Mississippi 


North Dakota 


Ohio 


Missouri 


Oklahoma 


Pennsylvania 


Nebraska 


South Carolina 


Rhode Island 


Oregon 


South Dakota 


Tennessee 


Texas 


Utah 


Vermont 


Washington 


West Virginia 


Virginia 


Wisconsin 


Wyoming 



Two groups of states elect Scholars each year according 
to the following scheme: 



For IQ22 


1923 


1924 


1925 


1926 


1927 


A 


A 


B 


A 


A 


B 


B 


C 


C 


B 


C 


C 



and so on in regular rotation. It should be noted that the 
Rhodes Scholars are elected nine or ten months before 
they enter Oxford. For example, Scholars were elected 
for 1 92 1 in September, 1920; for 1922 in December, 
192 1 ; and so on. The actual date fixed for the election is 
announced each year in the Memorandum of regulations. 
A candidate to be eligible must: 

(a) Be a male citizen of the United States, with at least five 
years' domicile, and unmarried. 



26o OXFORD OF TODAY 

(b) By the 1st of October of the year for which he is elected 

have passed his nineteenth and not have passed his 
twenty-fifth birthday. 

(c) By the 1st of October of the year for which he is elected 

have completed at least his Sophomore year at some 
recognized degree-granting university or college of the 
United States of America. 

Candidates may apply either for the state in which 
they have their ordinary private domicile, home, or resi- 
dence, or for any state in which they may have received 
at least two years of their college education before apply- 
ing. For each state there is a Committee of Selection, in 
whose hands, subject to ratification by the Trustees, the 
nominations rest. Candidates must in the first instance 
be selected by their own college or university. The 
method of doing this is left to each institution. The num- 
ber of candidates who may represent an institution in the 
competition for any one state is as follows: 

Institutions with less than 500 students: Not more than 2 

candidates. 
Institutions with from 500 to 1000 students: Not more than 3 

candidates. 
Institutions with from 1000 to 2000 students: "'Not more than 4 

candidates. 
Institutions with more than 2000 students: Not more than 5 

candidates. 

In accordance with the will of Cecil John Rhodes the 
qualities on the basis of which Scholars are selected are: 

(/) Qualities of manhood, force of character, and leadership. 
(2) Literary and scholastic ability and attainments, 
(j) Physical vigour, as shown by interest in outdoor sports or 
in other ways. 



AMERICAN RHODES SCHOLARSHIPS 261 

The ideal Rhodes Scholar should excel in all three of 
the qualities indicated, but in the absence of such an 
ideal combination, Committees will prefer a man who 
shows distinction either of character and personality, or of 
intellect, over one who shows a lower degree of excellence 
in both. Participation and interest in open-air and ath- 
letic pursuits form an essential qualification for a Rhodes 
Scholar, but exceptional athletic distinction is not to be 
treated as of equal importance with the other require- 
ments. 

Each candidate for a Scholarship is required to make 
application to the Secretary of the Committee of Selection 
of the state in which he wishes to compete, using the 
application form printed in the annual Memorandum of 
regulations, and furnishing: 

(a) A photograph of himself. 

(b) A birth certificate. 

(c) A written statement from the President of his college or 

university to the effect that he has been selected to 
represent that institution in the state in which he is 
competing. 

(d) A record certified by the Registrar, or some other respon- 

sible official, of the course of study he has pursued to- 
gether with his grades. 

(e) A statement by himself of his general activities and 

interests at college, and of his proposed line of study at 
Oxford. 
(/) The names of not less than five nor more than eight per- 
sons from whom further information may be obtained 
concerning his qualifications. At least three of these 
must be persons under whom the candidate has studied. 

In the absence of candidates qualified to take full ad- 
vantage of the Scholarship, Committees will make no 



262 OXFORD OF TODAY 

appointment. Vacancies so created may, as authorized 
from time to time by the Trustees, be filled by the 
appointment of Scholars-at-large. Scholars-at-large are 
chosen from among the particularly strong candidates 
who have failed to secure a regular appointment. 

No restriction is placed upon a Rhodes Scholar's choice 
of studies. He may read for the Oxford B.A. in any 
of the Final Honour Schools, may enter for one of the so- 
called Diploma Courses in special subjects, or, if qualified 
by previous training, may be admitted to read for ad- 
vanced degrees such as the B.Sc, B.Litt., B.C.L., or 
D.Phil. 

Application in any state should be made through the 
Secretary of the Committee of Selection for that state. 
In any case of difficulty in reaching Secretaries of State 
Committees candidates should write or telegraph to 
President Frank Aydelotte of Swarthmore College, 
American Secretary to the Rhodes Trustees, Swarth- 
more, Pa. State Secretaries are likely to be changed 
from year to year; those who are acting in 1922 are: 

Alabama Addison White, Esq., Huntsville. 

Arizona Dean Frank C. Lockwood, University of Arizona, 

Tucson. 

Arkansas President J. C. Futrall, University of Arkansas, 

Fayetteville. 

California F. P. Griffiths, Esq., Balfour Building, San Fran- 

cisco. 

Colorado Dean F. B. R. Hellems, University of Colorado, 

Boulder. 

Connecticut G. Van Santvoord, Esq., Yale University, New 

Haven. 

Delaware H. R. Isaacs, Esq., 207, Ford Building, Wilmington. 

Florida F. W. Buchholz, Esq., Gainesville. 

Georgia Dean R. P. Brooks, University of Georgia, Athens. 



AMERICAN RHODES SCHOLARSHIPS 263 



Idaho McK. F. Morrow, Esq., Care Richards & Haga, 

Boise. 

Illinois G. E. Hamilton, Esq., Western Springs. 

Indiana Professor L. H. Gipson, Wabash College, Craw- 

fordsville. 

Iowa Professor J. Van der Zee, University of Iowa, Iowa 

City. 

Kansas Dr. Frank Strong, University of Kansas, Lawrence. 

Kentucky A. Barnett, Esq., Shelbyville. 

Louisiana Superintendent G. C. Huckaby, Louisiana State 

School for the Deaf, Baton Rouge. 

Maine Robert Hale, Esq., First National Bank Building, 

Portland. 

Maryland E. H. Miles, Esq., 925, Equitable Building, Balti- 

more. 

Massachusetts Professor R. K. Hack, Kirkland Court, Cambridge 
38. 

Michigan J. K. Watkins, Esq., 924, Ford Building, Detroit. 

Minnesota W. B. Millen, Esq., Capital National Bank, St. Paul. 

Mississippi Professor A. G. Sanders, 735, Arlington St., Jackson. 

Missouri R. C. Beckett, Esq., Mobile & Ohio Railway, Fuller- 

ton Building, St. Louis. 

Montana Professor H. G. Merriam, University of Montana, 

Missoula. 

Nebraska P. F. Good, Esq., 613, Security Mutual Building, 

Lincoln. 

Nevada Professor J. E. Church, Jr., University of Nevada, 

Reno. 

New Hampshire Professor A. B. Meservey, 6, Webster Avenue, 
Hanover. 

New Jersey Professor R. M. Scoon, Princeton University, 

Princeton. 

New Mexico Vice-President Charles E. Hodgin, University of 
New Mexico, Albuquerque. 

New York Dr. Augustus S. Downing, State House, Albany. 

North Carolina Dean H. S. Hilley, Atlantic Christian College, Wil- 
son. 

North Dakota G. R. Vowles, Esq., University of North Dakota, 
Grand Forks. 



264 OXFORD OF TODAY 

Ohio Professor Leigh Alexander, iii, South Cedar Ave- 

nue, Oberlin. 

Oklahoma Professor W. S. Campbell, University of Oklahoma, 

Norman. 

Oregon President R. F. Scholz, Reed College, Portland. 

Pennsylvania Professor L. A. Post, Haverford College, Haverford. 

Rhode Island N. S. Taber, Esq., 50, South Main Street, Provi- 
dence. 

South Carolina I. F. Belser, Esq., 310, National Loan and Exchange 
Bank Building, Columbia. 

South Dakota M. A. Brown, Esq., Care Messrs. Brown & Brown, 
Chamberlain. 

Tennessee Professor H. M. Gass, University of the South, 

Sewanee. 

Texas Professor H. Trantham, Baylor University, Waco. 

Utah Professor B. H. Jacobson, 3369, S. Highland Drive^ 

Salt Lake City. 

Vermont J. C. Sherburne, Esq., Randolph. 

Virginia Rev. B. D. Tucker, Jr., Theological Seminary, 

Alexandria. 

Washington F. D. Metzger, Esq., 617, Tacoma Building, Ta- 

coma. 

West Virginia John V. Ray, Esq., 1210 Quarrier St., Charleston. 

Wisconsin A. B. Doe, Esq., 50, Sentinel Building, Milwaukee. 

Wyoming President Aven Nelson, University of Wyoming, 

Laramie. 



APPENDIX K 
A SELECT LIST OF BOOKS FOR REFERENCE 

I. The Examination Statutes. Oxford University 
Press, American Branch, 35 West 32nd Street, New 
York City. Revised from year to year. Care should 
always be taken to get the latest edition. 

This volume corresponds roughly to the catalogue of 
an American university, giving in "official" form a list of 
books required in the various Schools and the papers 
set in examinations. It is indispensable to any man 
planning a course at Oxford. 

II. General Information concerning admission, resi- 
dence, entrance scholarships, and examinations leading 
to the Bachelor of Arts degree. Oxford University Press, 
Arnerican Branch, as above. 

A brief pamphlet the purpose of which is described in 
its title. 

III. Facilities for Advanced Study and Research. Ox- 
ford University Press, American Branch, as above. 

This pamphlet contains information especially needed 
by men who wish to read for the B.Litt., B.Sc, B.C.L., 
or D.Phil. It explains the requirements for advanced 
degrees and gives some account of the courses offered in 
various departments, together with the libraries and 
laboratory facilities available for advanced study. 

IV. Oxford University Calendar. (Published annually) 
Oxford University Press, American Branch, as above. 

Contains calendar of the year; lists of members of 



266 OXFORD OF TODAY 

faculties, University officers, and professors; information 
as to lectureships, fellowships, scholarships, prizes, fees, 
degrees, diplomas, certificates, affiliated colleges, British, 
Colonial and foreign universities; class and honour lists 
since 191 1, honorary degree lists, colleges with lists of 
members, halls, non-collegiate societies, and a list of 
members of the University. 

V. Oxford University Handbook. Oxford University 
Press, American Branch, as above. Last issued in 191 5 
and now out of print. 

A compilation based on the Examination Statutes giving 
in somewhat briefer form the requirements in the various 
Schools and courses. Copies now obtainable in various 
university and public libraries in the United States are 
rather misleading because of the many important changes 
in University regulations since the war. 

VI. Oxford University Gazette. Published by the Uni- 
versity at the Clarendon Press and obtainable from the 
Oxford University Press, American Branch, as above. 

An official record of the acts of Convocation and Con- 
gregation, examinations, degrees, etc. 

VII. Oxford and the Rhodes Scholarships, by R. F. 
Scholz and S. K. Hornbeck. Oxford University Press, 
American Branch, as above. Out of print. 

An admirable guide book for the prospective Rhodes 
Scholar at the time of its publication in 1907 but now out 
of date. This book is to be found in a great many uni- 
versity and public libraries, but care should be exer- 
cised in using it because of the many changes in 
University regulations since the book was last revised. 

VIII. The Rhodes Scholarships, by Sir George Parkin. 
Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston, 1913. 



LIST OF BOOKS FOR REFERENCE 267 

An extremely useful account of the organization of the 
Scholarships throughout the world, with excellent chap- 
ters on the Oxford system and Oxford life written by F. J. 
Wylie. Readers should remember that many changes in 
methods of selection and requirements of admission to 
Oxford have been made since the book was written. 

IX. An American at Oxford, by John Corbin. Hough- 
ton, Mifflin & Co., 1902. 

This volume was written before the first Rhodes 
Scholars came to Oxford. It is perhaps the most attractive 
general account ever written of undergraduate life and 
work at Oxford from the American point of view. 

X. Oxford and Oxford Life, by J. Wells. Methuen & 
Co., London. 

This book, by the Warden of Wadham College, began 
as a revision of Stedman's Oxford, Its Life and Schools, 
but the revision resulted in practically a new book and 
was published under this title. It is now probably the 
best description of Oxford and Oxford life that we 
have. Mr. Wells, for many years a tutor and fellow 
of Wadham College, has written two of the nine chapters; 
the remaining chapters are the work of various Oxford 
men and one Oxford v/oman. The titles of the chapters 
are: I. Oxford in the Past; II. Oxford in the Present; 
III. Expenses; IV. The Intellectual Life; V. The 
Social Life; VI. The Religious Life; VI I. Aids to Study 
at Oxford; VIII. Woman's Education at Oxford; IX. 
University Extension. 

XL Oxford and Its Colleges, by J. Wells. Methuen & 
Co., London. 

This book is a companion volume to the last by the 
same author. Aside from Mr. Wells' contribution to 



268 OXFORD OF TODAY 

Oxford of Today this book is probably the most useful 
guide in print for the American who is seeking informa- 
tion to guide him in his choice of a college. 

XII. Oxford — Historical and Picturesque Notes, by 
Andrew Lang. Seeley & Co., London. 

A ramble into the highways and byways of Oxford 
history and customs. The book conveys probably as well 
as any book can the peculiar historical charm of the 
University and city. 

XIII. The Oxford Stamp, by Frank Aydelotte. Ox- 
ford University Press, American Branch, as above. 

An attempt to formulate some of the intellectual re- 
sults of a Rhodes Scholarship, and to apply certain Ox- 
ford ideas to American educational problems, especially 
social life, athletics, and the teaching of English. 

XIV. Cecil Rhodes, by Basil Williams. London, Con- 
stable & Co., 1 92 1. 

The most recent and probably the best all round life of 
Rhodes. 

XV. The Last Will and Testament of Cecil J. Rhodes, 
by W. T. Stead, 1902. 

Valuable as an exposition of Rhodes' aims, drawn by 
Stead from conversations with Rhodes during the years 
when his purposes were being crystallized. 

XVI. Cecil Rhodes, by Ian D. Colvin. London, T. C. 
and E. C. Jack, 1912. 

A brief but excellent sketch of Rhodes' life and work. 

XVII. Record of War Service of Rhodes Scholars from 
the Dominions Beyond the Seas and the United States 
of America. Compiled by the Oxford Secretary of the 
Rhodes Trust, privately printed but preserved in a few 
American university libraries. 



LIST OF BOOKS FOR REFERENCE 269 

XVIII. The Record of the Rhodes Scholars, compiled by 
the Oxford Secretary of the Rhodes Trust and published 
from time to time. New edition expected in 1922. 

XIX. The Oxford Magazine. Published weekly during 
term by the Oxford Chronicle Company, High Street. 

An unofficial but authoritative record of the most 
important events in the University week by week, to- 
gether with editorials, reviews, and general articles. 
Extremely interesting and valuable to the ex-Rhodes 
Scholar who wishes to keep in touch with the University. 

XX. Report of the Royal Commission on Oxford and 
Cambridge Universities, London. H. M. Stationery Office, 
C md. 1588, 1922. Price 6s. 

A careful study of the present organization of the 
two Universities, with suggestions for changes and for a 
subsidy from the Government. 

XXI. The American Oxonian. The o^cvaX vad.gd.z\ne. oi 
the Alumni Association of American Rhodes Scholars, 
edited by C. F. Tucker Brooke and published quarterly 
by W. W. Thayer, Concord, N. H. Price, $2.00 a year, 
\os. in England. 

Founded in 1914 by Frank Aydelotte and now (1922) 
in its ninth year. The best record of the intellectual 
results of the Rhodes Scholarships in education, scholar- 
ship, and public affairs. Among other special numbers 
the American Oxonian has printed a statistical study of 
the record of the Rhodes Scholars (January, 1921); an 
account of the recent changes and regulations at the 
University of Oxford (April, 1920) ; bibliography of 
recent books about Oxford (October, 192 1); and will 
print soon a full bibliography of books and articles con- 
cerning Rhodes and the Scholarships. 



INDEX 



Abingdon, 174, 176 
Academical Dress, 239 
Achilles Club, 158 
Acland, Sir Henry, 136 
Addison, Joseph, 131 
Admission, 39-47 

Undergraduates, 40-45 
Graduate Students, 45-47 
Advanced Degrees, 102- 116 
See also particular degrees: 
M.A.,B.Sc.,B.Litt.,D.Sc., 
D. Litt., D.Phil., B.C.L., 
D.C.L.,B.M.,D.M.,B.D., 
D.D., B.Mus., D.Mus. 
Advanced Standing, 46-47 
Advanced Students, 46-47 
Advanced Studies, Committee 

for, 47, 48, 107 
Agriculture and Forestry, 
School of, loo-ioi 
Preliminary Examination, 

60, 64, 100 
Final Examination, loo-ioi 
All Souls College, 7, 122, 123, 

129 
American Club, 156-157 
American Oxonian, vi, 269 
American Rhodes Scholars, 

Record of, 217-226 
American Rhodes Scholar- 
ships, Established by 



Rhodes Will, History of, 
208-217 
Regulations Governing, 258- 

264 
State Secretaries, 262-264 
American Universities, Asso- 
ciation of, 42 
American University Union, 

244 
Amherst, Nicholas, 20 
Anatomy, see Medicine 
Ancient House of Congrega- 
tion, 34 
Anglican Church, 38, 160 
Animal Physiology in Honour 
School of Natural Science, 

77,78 
Anthropology, School of Nat- 
ural Science, 77, 79 
Certificate in, 54 
Diploma in, 54 
Arabic^ 92 

Archaeology, in Literae Hu- 
maniores, 71 
in Honour Moderations, 

62, 69 
Diploma in, 54 
Architecture, University, 128, 

178 
Archives, 33 
"Aristocratic" Colleges, 145 



2'J2 



INDEX 



Arnold, Mathew, 23, 24, 134, 

139 
Arnold, Thomas, 16, 23 
Art Collections, see Ashmo- 

lean Museum 
Arts, Bachelor of, see B. A. De- 
gree 
Arts, Master of, see M.A. De- 
gree 
Arundel, Archbishop, 121 
Ashmole, Elias, 231 
Ashmolean Museum, 231-233 
Asquith, H. H., 23, 143, 154 
Association Football, 163 
Astronomy, School of Natural 

Science, 77, 79 
Athletics, 160-172 

Track and Field, 163 
Aydelotte, Frank, 262 

B.A. Degree, 55-58 

Table of Examinations for, 

246-248 
Fees, 235 
See also Honour Schools, 

Pass Schools, etc. 
Bacon, Roger, 4 
Bacteriology, see Medicine, 3 
Ball, Sidney, 138 
Balliol, Sir John de, 4 
Balliol College, 4, 24, 118, 119, 

121, 130, 133, 135, 139, 

140, 142, 143, 145 
Banbury, 173, 177 
Barham, 122 



Barnato, Barney, 192 

Barnett, Samuel, 138 

Barnett House, 138 

Barnett House Library, 231 

Battels, 236 

Baxter, Richard, 12, 13 

B.C.L. Degree, no, 112 

B.D. Degree, 113-114 

Beagles, 158 

Beaumont, 139 

Bedells, 33 

Beit, Alfred, 211 

Beit Library, 231 

Benedictines, 9, 37 

Ben than, Jeremy, 142 

Bentley, Richard, 21 

Berkeley, Bishop, 141 

Berkshire, 177 

Bible Clerkships, 36, 123 

Bibliography, 265, 269 

Bicester, 158, 177 

Bicyling, 177 

Biology, 64, 77, 137 

in Preliminary Examina- 
tion in Natural Science, 

64,77 
Birkenhead, Lord, 143 
Black Friars, 3 
Blackstone, 123 
Blake, Robert, 129 
Bland, W. J., 154 
Blenheim, 177 

B.Litt. Degree, 45, 46, 102-105 
Blue, 161 

Half-Blue, 161 



INDEX 



273 



B.M. (B.Ch.) Degree, 112 
B.Mus. Degree, 115-116 
Board of Faculty, 48 
Boating, 172, 175 
Bodleian Library, 5, 6, 13, 95, 

227-228 
Bodley, Sir Thomas, 13, 126, 

227 
Bodley's Librarian, 33 
Bologna, i 
Bookshops, 178 
Botanical Garden, 137, 223 
Botanical Library, 231 
Botany 

in Preliminary Examination 
in Natural Science, 64, 77 
in Honour School of Nat- 
ural Science, 77, 79 
in Pass school, 99 
Boxing, 163 
Brasenose College 8, 122, 139, 

146, 147 
Breakfasts, 181, 183 
British-American Club, I55r- 

156 
British Museum, 228 
Bridges, Robert, 95, 140 
Broadgates Hall, 20, 129, 139, 

140 
Bryce, James Viscount, 16, 23, 

126, 142 
B.Sc. Degree, 45, 46, 102-105 
Admission to Read for, 45, 46 
Bull-dogs, 33, 185 
"Bullers," 33 



Bulley, Frederick, 25 
Bullingdon, 158 
Burne-Jones, E., 24, 140 
Burton, 122 
Butler, Joseph, 141 

Calvert, 126, 127 

Cambridge University, 2, 4, 6, 

9, 13, 119, 138 
Campion, Edmund 125 
Campion Hall, 37 
Cardinal College, 8, 125 
Catholics, 8, 131, 160 
Caution Money, 238 
Cavaliers, 14, 128, 129 
Caxton, 6 

Censor of Non-Collegiate Stu- 
dents, 38 
Certificates, see list p. 54 
Chancellor, 32, 33 
Chancellor's Court, 242 
Charles I, 14, 129, 130 
Charles H, 141 
Chartered Company, 197 
Chaucer, 5 
Chemistry 

in Responsions, 59 

in Preliminary Examination, 
64 

in Honour School of Natural 
Science, 77, 78 

in Pass School, 99 

in B.M. Examination, 112 
Cherwell, 15, 170-173 
Chichele, Henry, 7, 9 



274 



INDEX 



Chiltern Hills, 177 

Christ Church College, 8, 14, 
18, 21, 122, 125, 127, 129, 
130, 132, 133, 134, 135, 

136, 137, 139. 141, 143, 
145, 146, 149, 229 
Christ Church Library, 229 
Church, R. W., 134 
Civil Law, Degrees in 

B.C.L., 110-112 

D.C.L., 112 
Civil War, 14, 129 
Clarendon, Earl of, 129 
Clarendon Press, 95, 233 
Classics, see 

Honour Moderations, 

Literae Humaniores, 

Pass School, 

Responsions 
Clerk of Oxenford, 6 
Clerks of the Market, 33 
Clifton Hampden, 176 
Clough, A. H. 23, 24, 134, 

139 
Clubs: 

College, 152-153, 

University, 153-158 
Codrington Library, 230 
Colet, John, 124 
College Athletics, 162 
College Clubs, 152-153 
College Debating Societies, 

152 
College Fees, 236 

See Expenses 



College Libraries, 229 
Colleges : 

Characteristics, 142-150; 

Definition, 29, 117; 

Government, 35-37; 

Heads of, 36; 
See list, 245; 

History, 1 17-150; 

List of, 245 
Colonial Club, 157 
Committees of Selection, 

See American Rhodes Scho- 
larships, Regulations 
Commoner, 36 

Gentleman, 20 
Commoner's Gown, 182 
Commonwealth, 15 
Congregation, 34 
Congregationalists, 38, 92, 

160 
Congreve, Richard, 135 
Convocation, 34 
Coroners, 33 
Corpus Christi College, 8, 124, 

127, 134, 136, 149 
Courts, University, 242 
Cowley, 176 
Cranmer, 8 
Cricket, 164 
Cromwell, 129, 130 
Crystallography, 

in Honour School of Natural 
Science, 77, 79 
Cumnor, 176 
Curzon, Lord, 32, 143 



INDEX 



275 



D.C.L. Degree, 112 

D.D. Degree, 115 

Debating, 152-155 

Degrees 

Conferring of, 32, 34 
List of Degrees, 53 
Qualifications for B.A., 55- 
58; M.A., 103; B.Sc.,and 
B.Litt., 102-105; D.Sc. 
and D.Litt, 105; D.Phil., 
106-110; B.C.L., 110-112; 
D.C.L., 112; B.M. (B. 
Ch.), 112-113; M.Ch., 
113; D.M., 113; B.D., 
113-114; D.D., 115; B. 
Mus., 115-116; D. Mus., 
116 

Delarey, General, 196 

De Merton, Walter, 118, 119 

Demy, 36 

Demyships, 36 

De Quincey, 140 

Devorguilla, 4 

Dicey, A.V., 142 

Dinner in Hall, 184 

Diplomas, see list p. 54 

Discipline, 9, 10, 239-241 

Divinity, see Theology, B.D. 
Degree; and D.D. 
Degree 

D.Litt. Degree, 105 

D.M. Degree, 113 

D.Mus. Degree, 116 

Dominicans, 3, 118 

Donne, John, 139 



D.Phil. Degree, 106-110 
See also Advanced Standing, 
46-47 
Dramatic Society, 157 
Drawing School, Ruskin, 232 
Dress, 181 ; see also Academi- 
cal Dress 
Dryden, 138 
D.Sc. Degree, 105 
Duns Scotus, 4, 141 
Durham College, 9, 125 

Economic History 

in Honour School of Modern 

History, 86-89 
in Honour School of Phil- 
osophy, Politics and Eco- 
nomics, 98 
in Pass School, 99 
Economics and Political Sci- 
ence, 
Diploma in, 54 
Education, Diploma in, 54 
Education, Oxford System of, 

48-52 
Edward I, 118 
Edward H, 120 
Edward HI, 121 
Edward VI, 126 
Edward VH, 145 
Edward the Black Prince, 121 
Edward, Prince of Wales, 145 
Egyptian, 92 
Eights, 169-172 
See Rowing 



276 



INDEX 



Eldon, Lord, 143 

Eliot, Sir John, 129 

Elizabeth, 126 

Engineering Science, 77, 79 

England, Church of, 160 

English 

in Responsions 58-59 
in Pass Moderations, 63 
in Honour School, 93-96 
in Pass School, 99 

English Language and Liter- 
ature, Honour School of 
93-96 

Entrance Examinations, 
see Responsions, 58-59 
also Admission, 39-47 

Erasmus, 7, 8, 124 

Essayists, Oxford, 140 

Eton, 146 

Evans, Sir Arthur, 123, 137 

Eveleigh, John, 22, 133 

Evelyn, John, 16, 130 

Evenlode, 174 

Examination Statutes, 53, 265 

Examination System 27, 28, 
51, 65-68 

Executive Officers of Univer- 
sity, 32 

Exemptions 

from Responsions, 41-47 
from Intermediate examin- 
ations, 41-47 

Exeter College, 5, 119, 120, 
136, 139, 143 

Exhibitions, 36 



Expenses, 234-238 
Eynsham, 173 

Faculties, 48, see list p. 249 
Faculties, Boards of, 48 
Fees, see Expenses, 234-238 
Fell, Dr. John, 18, 19 
Fellows and Fellowships, 35, 

48, 254-257 
Fencing, 163 
Ferry Hinksey, 176 
Final Schools, 65-101 
Financial Assistance, 36 
First Public Examination, 41, 

43, 59-64 
Firth, C. H., 97 
Fleming, Richard, 7, 122 
Football 

Association 163 

Rugby, 162 
Ford, 139 

Foreign Students, 41-47 
Forestry, School of, loo-ioi 

Preliminary Examination, 

64 

Final Examination, lOO-ioi 

Diploma in, 54 
Foxe, Bishop, 124 
Foxe, the Martyrologist, 122 
Franciscans, 3, 118 
Freeman, E. A., 24, 142 
French 

in Responsions, 58 

in Intermediate Examin- 
ations, 63, 64 



INDEX 



277 



in Honour Schools 
of Modern History, 87 
of Modern Languages, 96- 

98 

of Politics, Philosophy and 
Economics, 98 
in Pass School, 99, 
in School of Agriculture and 

Forestry, 100 
Certificate in, 54 
French Club, 157 
Froude, J. A. 23, 24, 25 
Froude, R. H., 23 

Games, 160-172 

Gardiner, S. R., 24 

Garsington, 176 

Gazette, Oxford University, 

266 
General Board of Faculties, 48 
Gentleman Commoner, 20 
Geographical Library, 231 
Geography 

in History Preliminary, 63 

in Honour School of Modern 
History, 86 

in Pass School, 99 

Certificate in, 54 

Diploma in, 54 
Geology, in Honour School of 

Natural Science, 77, 79 
German 

in Responsions, 59 

in Intermediate Examina- 
tions, 63, 64 



in Honour Schools 

of Modern History, 87 
of Modern Languages, 

96-97 
of Philosophy, Politics 
and Economics, 98 
in Pass School, 99 
in School of Agriculture and 

Forestry, 100 
Certificate in, 54 
Gibbon, 20, 21, 142 
Gilbert, Sir Humphrey, 126 
Gladstone, W. E., 16, 23, 

143 
Gloucester Hall, 20 
Godley, A. D., 22 
Godstowe, 173 
Goldwin Smith, 23 
Golf, 164 
Gore, Bishop, 135 
Government 

of the Colleges, 36 

of the University, 31 
Graduate Study, 51, 

see also Advanced Degrees 
Great Plague, 5 
"Greats," see Literae Human- 

iores 
Greek 

in Responsions, 58, 59 

in Intermediate Examina- 
tions, 60-63 

in Honour School of Literae 
Humaniores, 68-74 

in Pass School, 99 



278 



INDEX 



Greek, Mediaeval and Mod- 
ern, tn Honour School of 
Modern Languages, 96- 

97 
Green, J. H., 24 
Green, T. H., 135, 142 
Grey Friars, 3 
Grey, Lord, 143, 211 
Grenville, George, 127 
Gridiron Club, 158 
Grocyne, William, 7 
Groote Schuur, 199-200 
Grosseteste, Bishop, 4 
Groups, see Pass School, 99 
Gymnasium, 163 

Haig, Lord, 122 
Hakluyt, Richard, 126 
Half Blue, 161 
Halls 

Public, 37 

Permanent Private, 37 
Hampden, 129 
Harrison, Frederic, 24, 135 
Harrison, Rev. Wm., 11 
Hart Hall, 20, 129, 139 
Harvey, Wm., 130 
Hawksley, B. F., 211 
Heads of Colleges, 35 ; 

for list see 245 
Hearne, Thomas, 20 
Hebdomadal Council, 34, 42 
Heber, Bishop, 139 
Hebrew 

in Honour Schools 



of Theology, 90 

of Oriental Studies, 92 
in Pass School, 99 
Henley, 172 
Henrietta Maria, 129 
Henry HI, 120 
Henry V, 121, 122 
Henry VI, 122 
Henry VIII, 125, 126 
Hertford College, 20, 125 127, 

129 
High Steward, Lord, 33 
Hinton, Waldrist, 176 
Historians, Oxford, 142 
History 

of University, 1-28 
of Colleges, 1 17-150 
History Preliminary, 63-64 
History, see Modern History, 

Honour School of ; 
Hobbes, 141 
Hockey, 164 

Hofmeyr, Jan, 195, 197, 203 
Holy Scripture, Examination 

in 60, 61-62 
Holinshed's Chronicle, 11 
Honour Classical Moderations 

(Honour Mods), 60, 62, 

68 
Honour Mathematical Moder- 
ations, 60, 63, 74 
Honour Schools, 22, 26, 56, 58, 

65-101 
See particular Honour 

Schools: Literae Humani- 



INDEX 



279 



ores, Mathematics, Nat- 
ural Science, Jurispru- 
dence, Modern History, 
• Theology, Oriental Stud- 
ies, English Language and 
Literature, Modern Lan- 
guages, Philosophy, Poli- 
tics and Economics 

Hooker, Richard, 13, 126 

Hooper, John, 8 

Hope Library, 231 

Hornbeck, S. K., ix 

Hough, 19 

Hughes, Thomas, 134 

Humphrey, Duke of Glouces- 
ter, 6, 13 

Huxley, 17 

Hyde, Edward, 129 

Iff ley, 176 

Indian Institute, 230 

Intermediate Examinations,4i, 

60-64 
Irish, 5 

Isis, see Thames 
Italian 

in History Preliminary, 63, 

86 
in Honour School of Modern 

History 87 
in Honour School of Modern 

Languages 96-97 
in Honour School of Philoso- 
phy, Politics and Eco- 
nomics, 98 



Jackson, Cyril, 133 

Jackson, Sir Thomas, 128 

Jacobitism, 19, 20 

James II, 19, 131 

Jameson, Sir Starr, 196, 200, 

211 
Jameson, Raid, 200 
Jeffery, Francis, 140 
Jesuits, 37 
Jesus College, 13, 127, 139, 

149 
Jewel, Bishop, 126 
Jews, I, 3 
Johnson, Samuel, 20, 21, 132, 

133 
Jowett, Benjamin, 24, 25, 142 
Junior Standing, 41, 43-45 
Junior Students, 41, 43-45 
Jurisprudence 

Preliminary Examination, 60 

63, 83-84; 
Honour School of, 83-86 

Keble College, 127, 135 
Keble, John, 134, 135 
Kenilworth, 177 
Kruger, Paul, 201, 204 

Laboratories, see Honour 
School of Natural Science; 
in Colleges, 149 

Labour Club, 157 

Lady Margaret Hall, 26, 38 

Landor, 24, 140 



28o 



INDEX 



Lang, Andrew, 15, 24, 129, 

140 
Lankester, Sir E. Ray, 136 
Latimer, 8 
Latin 

in Responsions, 59 
in Intermediate Examin- 
ations 62, 63 
in Literae Humaniores, 68- 

74 
in Pass School, 99 
Laud, Archbishop, 14, 15, 128, 

129 
Laudian Statutes, 22 
Law 

B.A. Degree in 

(see Jurisprudence), 83-86 
Advanced Degrees in 
(B.C.L.andD.C.L.), no- 
112 
in Literae Humaniores, 71 
in Pass School, 99 
at all Souls College, 123 
Lawyers, Oxford, 143, 223-224 
Lectures, 48 
Lecturers, 47, 48, 249 
Letters, 

see B.Litt. and D.Litt. De- 
grees, 102-105 
Libraries 

Bodleian Library, 227-228 
College Libraries, 229 
Special Libraries, 229-231 
Library of Art and Archae- 
ology, 231 



Library of the English School, 
231 

Linacre, Thomas, 7, 8, 123 

Literae Humaniores, Honour 
School of, 68-74 

Literary Activities, Undergrad- 
uate, 159 

Lincoln College, 7, 121, 122, 
132, 140 

Lobengula, 196-197 

Locke, John, 127 

Lodge, 139 

Lodging Houses, 52, 237, 241 

Logic, 62, 67, 68 

Lunch, 183 

Lux Mundi Theologians, 135 

Lyell, Sir Charles, 137 

Lyiy, 13. 139 

M.A. Degree, 102 
Macauley, 140 

Magdalen College, 7, 14, 15, 19, 
21, 24, 25, 122, 123, 124, 

129, 131. 132, 137. 139, 
141, 145, 149, 172 

Magdalen Hall, 125, 129 

Maitland, F. W., 230 

Maitland Library, 230 

Manchester College, 38, 92, 
160 

Mansfield College, 38, 92, 160 

Mansfield, Lord, 143 

Marlowe, 13 

Marsh, Baldon, 176 

Marston, 139 



INDEX 



281 



Martyrs, 8 
Martyrs Memorial, 8 
Mary, 8, 120, 125 
Maryland, 126 
Masefield, John, 97 
Mason, A. E. W., 141 
Matabele, 196, 204-205 
Mathematics 

in Responsions, 59 

in Honour Mathematical 
Moderations, 63, 74 

in Natural Science Prelimin- 
ary, 64, 77 

in Honour School of Mathe- 
matics, 74-76 
Matoppos, 205 
Matriculation, 39, 152 
Maurice, Frederick Denison, 

134 
Mechanics and Physics, 63, 74 
Mediaeval and Modern Greek, 

96-97 
Medicine, 81-83 

Degrees in, (seeB.M.,B.Ch., 

M.Ch., D.M., Degrees, 

112-113) 
Members of Colleges, 35 
Members of University, 30 
Merton College, 4, 6, 14, 118, 

119, 120, 126, 129, 130, 

140 
Merton Library, 119 
Merton, Walter de, 4, 118, 119 
Mesopotamia, 173 
Methodists, 22, 132, 



Michell, Sir Lewis, 211 

Migration, 131 

Migrations, 2, 5 

Military History (Pass School) 
100 

Milman, Dean, 139 

Milner, Lord, 143, 221 

Mineralogy, 77, 79 

Mob Quad, 119 

Moderations 

Honour Classical 62, 68 
Honour Mathematical, 63, 

74 

Pass, 63 
Modern History 

Preliminary Examinations 
in, 63, 86 

Honour School of, 86-89 

in Pass School, 99 

Certificate in, 54 
Modern Languages 

in Responsions, 59 

in Intermediate Examina- 
tions, 63, 64 

in Honour School of, 96-97 

in Pass School, 99 

Certificates in, 54 
Montgomery, Robert, 140 
More, Sir Thomas, 7, 8, 

124 
Morris, Wm., 24, 139 
Moseley, H. M., 136 
Moselikatze, 205 
MuUinger, 9, 11 
Murray, Gilbert, 97 



282 



INDEX 



Museums 

Ashmolean, 231-233 

Pitt-Rivers, 233 

University, 233 
Music 

Degrees in 115, 116 

Natural Science 

in Responsions, 59 

in Pass School, 99 

in Honour School of, 77-81 

Preliminary Examination in, 
60, 64, 77 
New College, 5, 6, 119, 121, 

140, 145, 146 
New Rush, 189 
Newbridge, 174 
Newman, J. H., 16, 23, 134, 

135 
Nicholas, Master, 6 
Non-Collegiate Students 

Men, 37 

Women, 38 
Northampton, 2 
North, Lord, 126, 127 
Novelists, Oxford, 141 
Nowell, 122 
Nuncham Park, 174 

Oglethorpe, 127 

Old Examination Schools, 228 

Ophthalmology, Certificate in, 

54 
Oriel College, 5, 22, 23, 24, 119, 
120, 121, 124. 130, 134, 



135, 141, 142, 145, 188, 
191,207 
Fellowships, 22, 23, 24, 134 
Oriental Studies, Honour 

School of, 92-93 
Osney, 176 
Owen, John, 130 
Oxford Home Students So- 
ciety of, 38 
Oxford Magazine, 269 
Oxford Movement, 23, 134,135 
Oxford Union, 153-154 
Oxford University 
Government, 31-34 
History, Ch. I, pp., 1-28 
Legislative Procedure, 34 
Members, 30 
Officers, 32, 33 
Organization, Ch H, pp., 29- 

35 
Origin, i 

Relation to the Colleges, 29 
Oxford University Calendar, 

265 
Oxford University Dramatic 

Society, 147 
Oxford University Gazette, 

266 
Oxford University Handbook, 

ix, 266 
Oxford University Press, 5, 233 

Palaeography, 108 

Papyrology, 108 

Parkin, Sir George, xii, 211-214 



INDEX 



283 



Parsons, 133 

Pass Moderations, 60, 63 
Pass School, 55, 56, 99-100 
Pathology, see Medicine, 81- 

83, 112 
Pattison, Mark, 24, 25 
Peel, Sir Robert, 143 
Peele, 13 
Pembroke College, 20, 21, 127, 

129, 132, 140 
Penn, WilHam, 127 
Pennsylvania, 127 
Persian, 
in Honour School of Oriental 
Studies, 92 
Peterhouse, 4, 119 
Pharmacology, see Medicine, 

81-83, 112 
Ph.D. Degree, see D.Phil. De- 
gree 
Philosophers, Oxford, 141-142 
Philosophy 
in Honour School of Literae 

Humaniores, 68-74 
in Honour School of Theol- 
ogy 89-92 
in Honour School of Politics, 
Philosophy and Economics, 
98 
Physics 
in Responsions, 59, 
in Intermediate Examin- 
ation, 64 
in Honour School of Natur- 
al Science, 77-81 



in School of Agriculture and 

Forestry, 100 
in Pass School, 99 
Physiology, see Medicine, 81- 
83, 112 
Animal, in Honour School 
of Natural Science, 77-81 
Pitt, William, 126 
Pitt-Rivers Museum, 233 
Plague, Great, 5 
Poets, Oxford, 138-140 
Political Economy (See Eco- 
nomics) 
in Intermediate Examin- 
ation, 63-64 
in Honour School of Literae 

Humaniores, 68-74 
in Honour School of Modern 

History, 86-89 
in Honour School of Politics, 
Philosophy and Econom- 
ics, 98 
in Pass School, 99 
Diploma in, 54 
Political Science 

in Honour School of Literae 

Humaniores, 68-74 
in Honour School of Mod- 
ern History, 86-89 
in Honour School of Poli- 
tics, Philosophy and Eco- 
nomics, 98 
in Pass School, 99 
Diploma in, 54 
Poor Preachers, 121 



284 



INDEX 



Pope, Alexander, 22 

Port Meadow, 173 

Positivists, 24, 135 

Postmasterships, 36 

Preliminary Examinations 
(See Intermediate Examina- 
tions, 59-64) 
in Natural Science, 64-77 
in Jurisprudence, 63, 83, 84 
in Modern History, 63-64, 

86-87 
in Agriculture and Forestry, 

64, 100 
for Students of Music, 115 

Prime Ministers, Oxford, 143 

Prince of Wales, 145 

Private Halls, 37 

Prize Fellowships, 51 

Prize Scholarships, 51 

Prizes, 51 

Proctorial Discipline, 239-240 

Proctors, 32, 33, 185, 241 

Professors, 48, see list, 249 

Protestants, 8, 13 

Prynne, 130 

Public Hah, 37 

Public Health Diploma in, 54 

Public Orator, 33 

Public School Colleges, 145-146 

Public Schools, 145 

Publications, Undergraduate, 

159 
Pullein (see Pullus) 
Pullus, Robert, i 
Pimting, 172-175 



Puritans, 130 
Pusey, 23, 134, 136 
Pusey House, 38 
Pym, 129 

Queen's College, 5, 119, 120, 

121, 131, 137, 147 
Queen's College Library, 229 
Quiller Couch, 141 

Radcliffe, Camera, 228 
Radcliffe, John, 231 
Radcliffe Infirmary, 83 
Radcliffe Library, 230 
Raleigh, 13, 126 
Ramsay, Sir William, 137 
Reade, Charles, 141 
Readers, 48, 249 
Rebellion, Great, 129 
Reformation, 8, 125 
Reform of 1854, 24 
Reform of 1878, 26 
Religion, 159-160 
Renaissance, 7, 8 
Research, 1 02-1 10 
Research Degrees, 1 02-1 10 
Research Fellowships, 256 
Residence, 52, 54 

(See separate Degrees) 
Responsions, 41, 58-59 
Restoration, 18, 131 
Revolution of 1688, 19 
Rhodes, Cecil John, 127, 188- 
210 

At Oxford, 191-192 



INDEX 



285 



Boyhood, 118 

Death and Burial, 205 

Diamond Miner, 189-195 

Ideals of, 206-208 

Personal Appearance, 194, 
201-202 

Political Life, 193-202 

Will, 208-210 
Rhodes, Herbert, 190, 191, 

192 
Rhodes Scholars, 36 

Admission to University, 
39-40 

Standing, 40-47 
Rhodes Scholarships 

Administration in America, 
211-217 
Rhodes Trustees, 211 
Rhodesia, 199, 204-205 
Ridley, 8 
Riots, 2 

River Sports, 164-175 
Robertson, 122 

Roman Catholics, 37, 38, 160 
Rooms, Undergraduates, 182 
Rosebery, Lord, 211 
Rowing, 164-172 
Royal Commission, 269 
Royal Society, 16, 17, 130, 137 
Royalists, 129 
Rugby Football, 162-163 
"Rugger," see Rugby Football 
Rupert, Prince, 129 
Rural Economy 
in the Pass School, 99 



in School of Agriculture and 

Forestry, 100 
Diploma in, 54 
Ruskin, 136 

Ruskin Drawing School, 232 
Russian 
in Honour School of Modern 
Languages, 96-97 

St. Benet's Hall, 37 

St. Bernard's College, 7, 9, 

125, 

St. Edmund Hall, 37, 120 

St. Edmund, 120 

St. Hilda's Hall, 26, 38 

St. Hugh's College, 26, 38 

St. John's College, 7, 9, 14, 15, 
120, 125, 128, 137, 138, 
139, 147, 149 

St. Mary's Church, 6, 18, 
132 

St. Mary's Hall, 124 

St. Mary of Winchester, Col- 
lege of (See New College) 

St. Michael's Church, 6 

St. Stephen's House, 38 

Sacheverell, Henry, 131 

Sanskrit 

Honour School of Oriental 
Studies, 92 

Saintsbury, George, 24 

Sayce, Professor, 137 

Scholars, 35, 36 

Scholarships, 36 
College, 36 



286 



INDEX 



Prize, 51 

(See Rhodes Scholarships) 

Scholz, R. F., ix 

School (defined), 55 

Science (see also Natural Sci- 
ence), 16, 17, 130, 136, 137 
Degrees in; see Natural 
Science, and B.Sc, and D. 
Sc, Degrees 

Scout, 181 

Second Public Examination, 
see B.A. Degree and Pass 
and Honour Schools 

Selden, 129 

Senior Standing, 41-45 

Senior Students, 41-45 

Shaftesbury, Lord, 137 

Shaftesbury, Lord Chancellor, 

143 

Sheldon, Archbishop, 18 

Sheldonian Theatre, 18 

Shelley, 24, 132 

Shelley Memorial, 132 

Sherrington, Dr. 137 

Shirley, 139 

Sidney, Sir Philip, 13, 139 

Smith, Goldwin, 23, 25 

Smith, Sidney, 140 

Sinodun, 174 

Social Life, 151- 187 

Society of Non-Collegiate Stu- 
dents, 26, 37 

Society of Oxford Home Stu- 
dents, 38 

Somers, Lord, 143 



Somerville College, 26, 38 

South African Republic, 200, 
201,204 

South African War, 204 

Spanish 

in Honour School of Mod- 
ern Languages, 94, 95, 
96, 97 

Special Libraries, 229 

Special Subjects, (see several 
Honour Schools) 

Spenser, 13 

Sports, 161-172, 

Sprat, Thomas, 16 

Spring Rice, Sir Cecil, 143 

Stamford Schism, 2 

Stamford, University of, 2 

Standing, 41-47 

Advanced, 46-47, 107 
Junior, 41, 43-45 
Senior, 41-45 

Stanley, Arthur Penrhyn, 25 

Stanton Harcourt, 175 

Statesmen, Oxford, 143 

Steele, Richard, 140 

Stowell, Lord, 143 

Stubbs, WilHam, 24, 142 

Studio Club, 157 

Surgery, 81-83, n 2-1 13 

Surveying 

Certificate in, 54 

Swift, Dean, 22 

Swimming, 164 

Swinburne, A.C., 24, 139 

System of Education, 48-52 



INDEX 



287 



Talbot, Lord Chancellor, 141 
Taylor Institution, 230 
Taylor, Jeremy, 129 
Taylorian Library, 230 
Tea, 183 

Teaching Staff, 48 
Tennis, 164 
Terms, 51, 52 
Terrae Filius, 20 
Thames, 164-165, 172-175 
Theology 

Advanced Degrees in, 113- 

115 
Diploma in, 54 
Honour School of, 89-92 
in Pass School, 97 
Toryism, 19 
Toynbee Hall, 138 
Track Athletics, 163 
Tracts for the Times, 23 
Transvaal, 200 
Travel, 183 
Tradescant, John, 231 
Trinity College, 9, 120, 125, 

126, 134, 135, 139, 140. 

141, 142, 143, 146, 149. 
Trout Inn, 173 
Trustees, Rhodes, 211 
Tutorial Systems, 49-51,149 
Tutors, 48-51 
Tyndall, William, 7, 125 

Uffington, 177 
Undergraduates 
Activities of , 1 51-187 



Admission of, 39-47 
Advanced Students, 45-47, 

107 
Bible Clerks, 36 
Commoners, 36 
Demies, 36 
Exhibitioners, 36 
Junior Students, 40-42 
Postmasters, 36 
Rhodes Scholars, 36 
Scholars, 35, 36 
Senior Students, 42-45 
Standing, 40-47 
Women, 38 
Union Society Oxford, 153- 

154 
University of Oxford 

Government, 31-35 

History, 1-29 

Organization, 29-35 

Origin, i 
University, Archives, 33 
University Clubs, 151- 157 
University College, 4, 118, 133, 

143, 146 
University Courts, 242-244 
University Fees, 

See Expenses 
University Legislation, 34 
University Museum, 233 
University Scholarships and 

Prizes, 51 
University Union, American, 

244 
Unitarians, 38, 92, 160 



INDEX 



Vacarius, i 

Vacations, 177, 240 

Vale of the White Horse, 177, 

Vane, Sir Harry, 129 

Varsity Sports, 161-172 

Vaughan, Henry, 139 

Vice Chancellor, 32, 33 

Vincent's, 157 

Viva voce Examinations, 66 

Wadham College, 13, 127, 128, 
130, 134, 135, 138, 143 

Walking, 175 

Wallis, Dr. John, 16 

Wantage, 177 

Wars of the Roses, 6 

Warwickshire, 177 

Waynflete, William, 7 

Wellesley, Lord, 143 

Wells, Joseph, ix, 117, 267 

Welsh, 13 

Wesley, Charles, 132 

Wesley, John, 122, 132 

Wheatley, 176 

Whitfield, George, 132 

Wilberforce, Bishop, 134 

Wilde, Oscar, 24 

Wilkins, Dr. John, 16, 130 

Will of Cecil John Rhodes, 
208-210 



William of Durham, 4, 118 
William of Ockham, 141 
William of Wykeham, 5, 119, 

121 
Winchester College, 5, 121 
Windrush, 174 
Windsor Castle, 5 
Wolsey, Cardinal, 7, 8, 14, 124, 

125 
Women Students, 38 
Wood, Anthony, 19, 123 
Woodstock, 177 
Worcester College, 20, 127, 

140 
Worcester College Library, 229 
Wren, Sir Christopher, 16, 123, 

128, 131 
Wyclifife Hall, 38 
Wycliffe, John, 120, 121, 122 
Wylie, F. J., xi, 40, 211, 234 
Wytham, 173, 175 

Yarnton, 176 

Zoology 

in Preliminary Examination 
in Natural Science, 64, 77 
in Honour School of Natural 

Science, 77-81 
in Pass School, 99 



